CHAIR of the Parliamentary Special Select Committee reviewing the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Terrorism of Finance (AML/CFT) Bill, Ms Gail Teixeira, told the Guyana Chronicle that A Partnership for Unity (APNU) is still making amendments to their amendments.

“Up to last night (Tuesday night) Mr. Dhurjon was asked to undertake further drafting of the amendments that were proposed by the APNU,” she said, adding: “Amendments have been made to the initial amendments, so the work of the Committee continues.”
The APNU’s three amendments address: Changing the entire governing apparatus of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU); removing the term, Attorney-General, wherever it appears and replacing it with the initials, FIU; and vesting police or customs officers with the power to seize currency from any person, anywhere in Guyana, if those officers have reason to believe that the currency is the proceeds of a crime or will be used to finance crime.
Teixeira said the government has voiced its concern over the inordinately long time it has been taking to have the AML/CFT Bill returned to Parliament for passage.
“It is very clear at the Committee level what the APNU wants…They are not prepared to move ahead with the Bill on which there is agreement,” she said.
Noting that the work of the Committee is not the only deciding factor where passage of the critically important Bill is concerned, Teixeira said: “You have to keep remembering that they have made this a package with the many demands that have been linked to the AML/CFT Bill.”
She said that in addition to their amendments, APNU is also calling for President Ramotar to assent to several Bills he returned to the National Assembly, with an explanation of his decision, reasons that were centered on the unconstitutionality of the legislations.
On the other hand, the Alliance For Change (AFC), which supports APNU’s every position, is calling for the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC), which the government is in favour of, provided that Cabinet retains its no-objection role in the procurement process. The latter has been rejected by the AFC.
Guyana missed the February 28 deadline when the country was required to submit a report to the CFATF; that report was expected to include a copy of the enacted Bill, which, after analysis, will be correlated to the deficiencies identified by the Body at its November 2013 Plenary meeting, before a report is made in May 2014. Guyana, unfortunately, was only able to report on the non-legislative recommendations by CFATF.
If the May Plenary is dissatisfied with Guyana’s progress, CFATF’s November 2013 statement already provides for the decision for the country’s referral to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which meets again in June 2014.

(By Vanessa Narine)