ATTORNEY General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall expressed his disappointment at the recent outburst by APNU Member of Parliament, Joseph Harmon, in relation to the publicising of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force’s (CFATF) disapproval of the amendments proposed by the Opposition.

On a television programme, the AG had informed that the CFATF has deemed the Opposition’s amendments as unacceptable. In response, Harmon was quoted by an online news outlet saying that the impression that CFATF

has rejected their proposals was based on the AG’s interpretation.

“I never pretended to interpret anything for the APNU. I would never arrogate to myself such a grave and serious responsibility. I was simply speaking about a letter addressed to me by CFATF which I was kind enough to share with Mr. Harmon and his colleagues,” Minister Nandlall told the Government Information Agency.

CFATF’s position was outlined in the letter sent by the Executive Director of the CFATF Secretariat, Calvin Wilson, and was circulated via email to all of the members of the select committee to which the Bill was referred.

Minister Nandlall said that, “Perhaps Mr. Harmon is peeved that the content of the letter has been made public by me for the simple reason that the letter confirms the deficiencies which the Government has long identified infected the Opposition’s proposal…maybe he was hoping that this would not have been made public.”

Harmon was quoted as saying that he does not understand the letter to be binding and that the pronouncement is merely advisory. The AG asserted that he never suggested in any fashion or form that the letter is binding as contended by APNU parliamentarian.

“The Opposition disregarded my views and stubbornly persisted with their proposal… they adopted a similar position in relation to the deadlines which I frequently spoke about, as well as similar technical requirements and recommendations which I emphasised must be adhered to, in order to enact a CFATF compliant Bill. All of the Government’s positions were confirmed by Mr. Roger Hernandez of the CFATF, when he visited Guyana in February this year,” the AG reminded.

He said that CFATF’s recent pronouncement on this matter has publicly embarrassed the APNU for the second time and added that, “I can therefore understand the obvious acrimony in Mr. Harmon’s tone of language.”

He added that, “What I am absolutely sure about is that since CFATF stands in the shoes of a judge in this situation, it would be utterly foolish to disregard their views. It was the CFATF’s chairperson and technical director, who offered technical assistance, both to the Government and the Opposition, when they visited Guyana a few weeks ago.”

Harmon also criticised the Minister for writing to CFATF, soliciting its views and the AG reminded that it was the CFATF officials, who during their recent visit, invited both the Government as well as the Opposition to submit their individual drafts, which they he did on behalf of the Government.

“The Government does not need Mr. Harmon’s or anyone’s approval or authority to do any such thing, as Mr. Harmon contends,” Minister Nandlall said.