THE parliamentary Opposition, once again, did not attend a meeting of the Special Select Committee on Tuesday, despite the looming risk of sanctions against Guyana for the non-passage of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLCFT) Bill.

Chair of the Committee, Presidential Advisor Gail Teixeira reported:“The Opposition was a no-show. Four members were excused and one member, Mr. (Khemraj) Ramjattan, was absent.”
She pointed out that the Committee, regardless, proceeded with its work, looking at the various amendments to the Bill and review of other aspects of the legislation, during a three-hour session.
According to her:”Our work is done.The report will be sent to the National Assembly when it meets.”
Teixeira said “the rule of thumb” is that the Committee’s work must continue and the quorum for a parliamentary committee is three members.
The day before that meeting, she had announced a postponement after several Opposition members failed to attend on the initially planned date.
Delaying tactics
That and previous actions by the Opposition have been dubbed delaying tactics by the current administration.
“The Opposition members, cognisant of the deadlines which have been passed in May and August, 2013, cannot claim to be unaware of the absolute necessity to return this bill to the House for debate by early November and the consequences to Guyana if this deadline is, again, missed,” Teixeira lamented in a statement on Monday.
She emphasised that the work of the Committee is “critical to the economic and social well-being of Guyana” and its people.
Guyana missed the August 26 deadline that was set by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) for the Bill to be passed, but was successful in securing an extension.
CFATF has already prepared a draft report on Guyana, which will be adopted at its plenary meeting, scheduled for November 18 in The Bahamas.
That draft, in its conclusion, states that Guyana has not implemented the requisite recommendations and the Guyana AML/CTF Bill, which embodies what was recommended, is still languishing in the Guyana Parliament.
It, therefore, declares Guyana to be a non-compliant jurisdiction and invites countries to take such counter-measures which they deem necessary to protect themselves from the money-laundering and terrorism risks, which Guyana poses.
Unless the AML/CFT Bill in Parliament is passed, before November 18, Guyana would be unable to prevent that draft report from being adopted.