THE Parliamentary Special Select Committee currently reviewing the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Amendment Bill, finished the review of the Opposition proposed amendments on Wednesday. 

However, Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mr. Anil Nandlall said the proposals are unlikely to get support from the regional enforcement body, Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF).
He acknowledged that the Committee ended its examination of the proposals put forward by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), seeking to amend the Government’s AML/CFT legislation but said, in his view, those changes will not be supported by the CFATF for various reasons.
To this end, Nandlall told the Guyana Chronicle, yesterday, that he has made counter proposals, with the view of the Government and Opposition members on the Select Committee being able to come to a compromise.

Main concepts
He said his suggestions are intended to capture the main concepts contained in the Opposition’s propositions, for example the establishment of an authority, but the appointment mechanism is different in keeping with the models throughout the world.
Additionally, it seeks to ensure and guarantee the autonomy and independence of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Nandlall said.
APNU’s original three changes would proffer changing the entire governing apparatus of the FIU; removing the Attorney General wherever that name appears and replacing it with the FIU and vesting a Police or Customs officer with the power to seize currency from any person, anywhere in Guyana, if those officers have reason to believe that it is the proceeds of crime or will be used to fund criminal activities.
According to the AG, the Opposition’s propositions are problematic.
He said:“Principally, they contaminate the Bill with too much political influence and undermine the independence and autonomy of the FIU. Furthermore, the Bill puts forward a model whereby the National Assembly makes all the appointments to an established authority, as well as the FIU Director and staff.
“This is a most disingenuous and novel model that exists nowhere else in the world. There is no country in the Caribbean, for example, where the National Assembly appoints officers to agencies created by the any anti-money laundering legislation,” he claimed.
The Committee is expected to consider those suggestions at its next meeting, for which a date is yet to be decided.
In addition to their proposed changes, APNU is also calling for the Head of State to assent to several Bills he had returned to the National Assembly, for the reason that they were unconstitutional.

Been rejected
Meanwhile, the AFC, supportive of APNU’s stand, is demanding the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC), which Government has agreed to, providing that Cabinet retains its ‘no objection’ role in the process but the latter has been rejected by the AFC.
Chair of the Parliamentary Special Select Committee, Ms. Gail Teixeira, in a prior interview, claimed the Government’s stance is “most reasonable” and is its “minimum”.
She added that it is the simplest and least confrontational of all, underscoring the difficultly in the negotiation process, given that neither APNU nor the AFC is willing to compromise on their “maximum” positions.
Teixeira said:“For us, the door is open and we continue to do our best. We will try to free this Bill from being held hostage and we continue to do our best.”
“It has been an awfully long haul,” she lamented, referring to the fact that the Committee’s work has been ongoing for more than 10 months.
Guyana has already been blacklisted, regionally, by CFATF and the final deadline for it to ensure compliance with the recommendations of the latter is May 29.
If May 29 passes without the enactment of the AML/CFT Bill, the country can be recommended to the international body, FATF, for review by the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) and, if that is done, Guyana could face further sanctions, including being put on the international blacklist.

(By Vanessa Narine)