– according to House Speaker Raphael Trotman

SPEAKER of the National Assembly, Mr Raphael Trotman, in an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, has acknowledged the conflict between the progress with the review of three proposed amendments to the 2009 Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act by the Parliamentary Select Committee and the Standing Orders governing its remit.

The Select Committee, which is reviewing the AML/CFT (Amendment) Bill, was unable to conclude its work on the Bill, whose provisions have been unanimously supported, after the Opposition used its majority to insist that the amendments to the Principal Act are included.

THREE AMENDMENTS
The three amendments seek to change the entire governing apparatus of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU); remove the Attorney General wherever that name appears and replace it with the FIU; and vest a police officer or customs officer with a power to seize currency from any person anywhere in Guyana, if those officers have reason to believe that the currency is the proceeds of crime or will be used to finance crime.

Standing Order 95:3 says, “The business to be transacted at every meeting of a Committee shall be confined to the matter referred to it by the Assembly and any extension or limitations thereof made by the Assembly and, in the case of a Select Committee on a Bill, to the Bill committed to it and relevant amendments.”
However, Trotman said that this conflict is a “grey area” and noted that given that the amendments have already been brought, the situation is a “wait and see” one.
“Nothing is impossible at this time…we have to now see what happens,” Trotman said.
APNU member, Carl Greenidge told this newspaper in a prior interview that his understanding of the Standing Orders is different from the contention of the Government members.
He said: “That is not my understanding of the Standing Orders and for an Act to be consistent you have to look at all the element… a law is a complete document and the Bill has to be a complete document.”

RISKY AMENDMENTS
Government Members of the Committee, in addition to opposing Greenidge’s views, contend that the proposed amendments are not only outside of the Committee’s remit, but are also risky.
The Caribbean Financial Action Task Force’s (CFATF) advisor Roger Hernandez, at a press briefing which followed the last meeting of the Parliamentary Select Committee, reiterated similar sentiments.

AMENDMENTS NOW COMPLIANT
He said: “The amendments (in the AML/CFT (Amendment) Bill) right now are compliant with the recommendations that were made concerning Guyana’s meeting the AML/CFT standards…the concern that we have is that the amendments being put forward may make those areas that were formally compliant, non-compliant. There is a risk with that.”
Hernandez added that APNU’s amendments are also outside of the “remit of the recommendations” made by CFATF.
He said: “We have no opinion on those things because we only deal specifically with the recommendations. It’s up to the legislature to decide about those particular measures.”
The CFATF advisor stressed too that these “observations” were made known to all the Committee members for their consideration.
“This is definitely something for the parties concerned to look at,” Hernandez said.
The CFATF advisor added that his observations are confined to the amendments in their current form – an acknowledgement that they are still to be finalised.
Hernandez disclosed to members of the media that once Guyana is required to submit a report to CFATF on February 28, it must include a copy of the enacted Bill, which will, after analysis, be correlated to the deficiencies identified by the body at its November 2013 Plenary meeting, before a report is made in May 2014.
Also the report has to address Guyana’s plan of action to correct its deficiencies as part of the ongoing process, as well as report the conclusions on the AML/CFT (Amendment) Bill.
Between February and May it is expected that there will be dialogue and discussions with CFATF and the current Administration with regards to the preparation of the report for the CFATF Plenary.
If the May Plenary is dissatisfied with Guyana’s progress, CFATF’s November 2013 statement already provides the decision for the country’s referral to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which meets again in June 2014.

(By Vanessa Narine)