– on conditions set for passage of AML/CFT Bill
THE France-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meets on February 13, mere days away, and with Guyana being ranked at the top of that body’s list of possible countries to qualify for the International Cooperation Review Group’s (ICRG) review, the pressure is mounting on this country to have the Anti-Money Laundering & Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Bill passed into law.QUOTE: “Non-passage of the AML/CFT Bill will have devastating consequences not only on the economy, but also on Guyana’s international image. The bottom line, undisputed, is that every single Guyanese will suffer in the end. This will include Opposition supporters as well” – Rohee

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Mr Clement Rohee, at a press conference held at the party’s Freedom House headquarters yesterday, called out Opposition Leader David Granger on his position that APNU will support the AML/CFT Bill only if President Donald Ramotar assents to identified Opposition-driven bills.

Rohee pointed out that Granger’s comments give the impression that the bills are with the President, which is untrue. “The truth of the matter is that none of those bills are with the Presidential Assent. The President has dealt with those bills months ago, in accordance with the procedure outlined by Article 170 of the Constitution. The President withheld his assent from those bills, as he is entitled to do in accordance with Article 170 (3),” Rohee said.

He explained that those bills not assented to were returned to the National Assembly with reasons for their return being stated, and Speaker of the House, Mr Raphael Trotman, so informed Members of Parliament (MPs).

“The President cannot assent to bills that are no longer before him. On every occasion, the Speaker so informed the National Assembly, and requested whether the National Assembly requires the bills to be sent back to the President,” Rohee stressed.

Rohee said there is a constitutional process to be followed before those bills can return to the Head of State for assent. “In accordance with Article 170 (4), in which case a Motion will have to be presented by the National Assembly in respect of each bill, which Motion will require two-thirds (2/3) of all elected Members of the National Assembly,” he said.
The General Secretary made it clear that on “no occasion” did the Opposition in the National Assembly indicate that they would like the bills to be returned to the President for his assent.

He said, “The request of the Leader of the Opposition for the President to assent to the bills is one that is completely misplaced. The President cannot assent to a bill that is not before him. The Leader of the Opposition must know this.

“We therefore believe that this request is a deliberate sham.”

CRIMINAL CONNECTIONS
Rohee, as Guyana’s Minister of Home Affairs, added that the question at hand is whose interests are being represented with the non-support of such a critical piece of legislation.
“The question which this obviously poses is why would the Opposition parties, who are themselves an alternative Government and who depend upon their supporters — the Guyanese public, the business sector and international community — not only for political and financial support, but for their very political survival, would want to withhold their support from a measure which, if not supported, will have a crippling effect upon those whom they depend upon for their very survival?

“It makes no political sense, and it is obviously devoid of logic. What, then, is the answer?” Rohee questioned.

He said, “The answer lies in the confirmation of our worst fears, that is (that) the Opposition parties in the National Assembly are protecting the vested interests of a few, whose operations, and perhaps survival, will be affected if the Bill is passed. These persons, obviously, are those engaged in illicit activities, including trading and trafficking in drugs, arms, ammunition, and who need to launder the proceeds of their ill-gotten gains.

“In short, the majority in the National Assembly has been penetrated, infiltrated and represent the interest of criminal cartels at the expense of their own supporters, their own constituents, their own people and their own country!”

Rohee surmised that such actions are being done in exchange for a “reward” in one form or the other.
“We have referred at length, in the past, to their connections to crime, criminals and criminality. Again, we see incontrovertible evidence of this connection.

“We are aware of their connections to drug lords and violent criminal gangs. We know that a former PNC leader and Member of Parliament is currently serving a prison sentence in the United States for conspiring to blow up the John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York. We are aware that his operations at Linden have been taken over by another PNC member in Linden.

“We will do everything we can, both locally and internationally, to draw attention to this horrible reality. We owe it to all of our people, including supporters of the Opposition. We owe it to our country. We cannot allow our country to be hijacked by criminals and those whom they have sponsored.”
Rohee stressed the “devastating consequences” that non-passage of the AML/CFT Bill will have not only on the economy, but also on Guyana’s international image.

“The bottom line is — and what is undisputed is that every single Guyanese will suffer in the end. This will include Opposition supporters as well,” he said.

In addition to the FATF’s deadline, CFATF itself is expected to review Guyana’s position in May 2014 at its next meeting.
Written By Vanessa Narine