No Select Committee meeting held for last two weeks
—because of the unavailability of Opposition members

THE Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) has made it clear that Guyana’s final deadline for enactment of the AML/CFT Bill is May 29, a mere 11 days away, yet the Parliamentary Special Select Committee reviewing the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Amendment Bill has not met at any time in the last two weeks.Madam Gail Teixeira, as Chair of that Committee, told the Guyana Chronicle yesterday that a meeting has been summoned for tomorrow. She said, “We are trying to get a meeting for Monday; however, it seems to be proving some problems for the Opposition. One person, the chairman of the Opposition members, said he doesn’t want a meeting until Friday, May 23.

“Mr. Williams (A Partnership for National Unity’s, Basil Williams) has indicated that he is not available to meet on Monday, but we will have to meet on Monday and see what happens.

“The fact is we have not had a meeting last week or this week because of the unavailability of Opposition members.”

Teixeira stressed that the work of the Committee must be treated with a sense of urgency, given the looming deadline and what are clearly going to be devastating economic impacts if Guyana fails to have the AML/CFT Bill enacted by then.

Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, echoing similar sentiments, said: “The Government’s position remains the same: we are willing to meet immediately and as frequently as is required, and for as long as it is required to conclude this matter. We have always said (that) even (when) one or two of our members are not available we can proceed.

“We do not believe that the meeting has to be postponed because one member is unavailable, unlike the Opposition.”

Dr. Singh flayed the Opposition Parliamentary parties for not being “seized with the urgency” of the matter ahead. He repeated his earlier calls for the AML/CFT Amendment Bill, which is CFATF compliant and has received the support of both Opposition parliamentary parties, to be passed as soon as possible.

“Any responsible political party would instruct its membership or its representative on a Committee such as this (to) either make themselves available or permit the work of the Committee to proceed in their absence,” Dr. Singh said.

COUNTER-PROPOSALS
The next meeting of the Select Committee is expected to consider counter-proposals to the ones recommended by the APNU.
Attorney-General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, who put forward the counter-proposals, maintains that APNU’s amendments are unlikely to receive the support of the regional enforcement body, CFATF.

In a prior interview, he said, “The committee concluded its examination of the proposals put forward by APNU, which seek to amend the Government’s AML/CFT Amendment Bill; but, in my view, those amendments will not receive the support of CFATF for various reasons.”

Nandlall said that his counter-proposals had been forwarded with the view to having the Government and Opposition members on the Select Committee being able to come to a compromise.

He said, “I put forward counter-proposals to those of the Opposition. These proposals are intended to arrive at a position on compromise. They seek to capture the main concepts contained in the Opposition’s proposals; for example, the establishment of an Authority, but the appointment mechanism is different, in keeping with the models throughout the world.

“Additionally, (the counter-proposals) seek to ensure and guarantee the autonomy and independence of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).

APNU’s original three amendments proffer a change to the entire governing apparatus of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU); removal of the Attorney General wherever that name appears and replacing it with the 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 proceeded from crime, or would be used to fund criminal activities.

The AG says the Opposition’s proposed amendments are problematic. “Principally, they contaminate the Bill with too much political influence, and undermine the independence and autonomy of the Financial Intelligence Unit. 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 its staff.

“This is a most (ingenuous) 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 any anti-money laundering legislation.”

If the final drop-dead deadline of May 29 passes without Guyana enacting the AML/CFT Legislation, Guyana would most likely be recommended to the international body, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), for review by the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG). If that is done, Guyana could face serious sanctions, including being put on the international blacklist. The country has already been blacklisted regionally by CFATF.

(By Vanessa Narine)