THE return of the Anti-Money Laundering & Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Bill to a Parliamentary Select Committee has prompted Attorney General Anil Nandlall to issue cautionary words to Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs).“We have to be careful with what we are titillating with,” he told reporters yesterday during the ruling party’s weekly press conference held at its Freedom House headquarters.

The AG explained that the Bill which was re-tabled in the House last Thursday is a product of extensive consultation with the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF).

He acknowledged that CFATF issued an advisory on the need for changes in November 2011, but pointed out that, with elections in the air, work was deferred until after the event.

Nandlall said that after the advisory, CFATF officials visited Guyana; examined the local situation; met with the Government, private sector, regulatory bodies and other stakeholders; examined the legislative framework, and made their recommendations.
The legislation to give effect to the recommendations was another process that took time, he said.

“Each provision was sent individually to CFATF, examined by their specialist, and confirmed to have been complied with the recommendations,” the AG said. “It was a very time consuming process.”

According to the AG, the recommendations could have been made effective by legislation done in a piecemeal manner, but the decision was to legislate in a more comprehensive manner, particularly foreseeing challenges with passage of the bill in a piecemeal manner.

“It is a big bill, but it is a comprehensive one that embraces all the recommendations …. It was a long process.”
STALLING
The vote to send the Bill back to a Select Committee, where it spent six months before being defeated by the joint Opposition vote earlier this month, is another attempt at stall tactics, according to Nandlall.

He said: “Recall that this Bill was defeated by the Opposition for no good reason or cause. Recall that this Bill has been approved by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) as capturing 98 per cent of their recommendations which are to be implemented. Recall that in their public statement, the CFATF identified the non-passage of this Bill as the major basis for blacklisting Guyana. Yet, when the Bill is returned to the National Assembly, as requested by the Opposition after their rejection of it was nationally condemned, the Opposition again have refused to pass the Bill.”

He charged that the position of the Alliance For Change (AFC) — that their support is dependent on the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission — is reflective of “casino” type politics.

Nandlall said: “The AFC continues with their casino type politics.
Their position is (for them to use) their support for the AMLCFT to gamble for the Public Procurement Commission. They have no problem with the Bill. According to them, the Bill is perfect. However, they will not support it unless the Public Procurement Commission is established.

“We reject this ‘ad terrorem’ approach. We say that the Public Procurement Commission and the AMLCFT are mutually exclusive matters, each being important in its own right and each must be treated in accordance with their own needs and peculiarities. Each has its own process.”

He stressed that the current administration is not prepared to “gamble” on matters of such importance to the country and its people.

Referring to the position of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), the AG said: “For the last six months, they have been parroting publicly that they have amendments to make to the Bill. None came forth in six months in the previous Select Committee.

“Again, none was proposed on the floor in the National Assembly during the debate.

“Mr. Carl Greenidge, who spoke for the APNU, appears bent on upstaging his leader. He appeared uncompromising and relentless. He has listed a series of demands, all of which are unrelated to the Bill; stating emphatically that unless those demands are met, the AMLCFT will not be supported.”

Given both parties’ positions, Nandlall maintained, he is not optimistic in anticipating support for the AML/CFT Bill.

“The transmission of the Bill to a Select Committee seems to be another political game. For the sake of our country and our people, we hope that we are wrong.

“Thus far, we have done everything that we can do to have this Bill passed. The struggle will continue,” he said.

EFFECTS
The AG stressed it is important that the bill be passed even as he rejected assertions being peddled in some quarters that the Government is involved in scaremongering. “Talk to the Private Sector Commission,” he said.

As a representative of the private sector in Guyana, he noted that the body, as well as others in the business community, can confirm the beginning of the adverse effects of missing the last CFATF deadline.
Since missing the November 18 deadline, CFATF, at its plenary meeting, warned its members to “consider implementing counter measures to their financial systems from the ongoing money laundering and terrorist financing risks” emanating from Guyana.

The AG pointed to a major impact of the warning, the current exchange rate, where the United States dollar is trading at the much higher rate of Gy$213 to US$1.

The French-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is expected to hold a review in February. Guyana could be included in that review following CFATF’s designation of Guyana as a country with deficiencies in strategic areas in regard to anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism; and as a country that has not made sufficient progress in addressing the deficiencies in this regard; and as a country that have not complied with its Action Plan developed with CFATF to address those deficiencies.

CFATF itself is expected to review Guyana’s position in May 2014 at its next meeting. If Guyana is unable to meet the May 2014 deadline, the body is expected to hand Guyana over to the Financial Action Task Force for the International Cooperation Review Group’s (ICRG) evaluation to begin.

 PULL QUOTE: ‘The AFC continues with their casino type politics.  Their position is (for them to use) their support for the AMLCFT to gamble for the Public Procurement Commission. They have no problem with the Bill. According to them, the Bill is perfect. However, they will not support it unless the Public Procurement Commission is established.’
Written By Vanessa Narine