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“It was never at all about having a ‘strong and enforceable’ AML/CFT Bill. It was all about political gimmickry, artifice and deception perpetrated against the Guyanese people. It was an attempt to get the top prize, the non-assented Bills passed.” — Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil NandlallTHE contention of the main Opposition, A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU), that President Donald Ramotar offered nothing to the combined Opposition continues to attract attention, even as the Head of State was clear in an address to the nation on Thursday night on what was offered to the party.

And Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, in an interview with the Guyana Chronicle stated that APNU, clearly never intended to support any version of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) (Amendment) Bill.
He said: “This latest position of the APNU confirms our contention all along that APNU never intended to support any AML/CFT Bill, they were simply using it as a platform to extract political concessions from the Government.”
The two sides met last Wednesday in a in a last ditch attempt to settle on a compromise over the AML/CFT (Amendment) Bill and President Ramotar indicated Government was willing to pass the AML/CFT (Amendment) Bill, as well as the party’s amendments to the Principal ALM/CFT Act– despite the current administration’s position that they were non-compliant with international standards. This offer was rejected.
“In short, the Opposition rejected their own amendments,” Nandlall said.
Three versions of two bills are currently before the Committee: the Government’s AML/CFT (Amendment) Bill; APNU’s draft amendments to the Principal AML/CFT Act; and the Attorney-General’s (AG) counter-proposals, which addressed what were seen as problem areas in APNU’s amendment, the latter enjoying 80 per cent agreement, with the exceptions relating to governance and the roles of the President, Government Ministers and the National Assembly within the AML/CFT framework – the only three sticking points.

POLITICAL GIMMICKRY
Additionally, APNU had not only proposed three amendments, which were included in the party’s draft amendments to the Principal AML/CFT Act, but the party maintained its call for the President to give his assent to several Bills passed in the National Assembly, including the Local Authorities (Elections) (Amendment) Bill 2013, which states that elections must be held on or before August 1, 2014. The Head of State has already forwarded his explanation for his-non assent to the National Assembly.
Commenting on this stance, the AG said: “It was never at all about having a ‘strong and enforceable’ AML/CFT Bill. It was all about political gimmickry, artifice and deception perpetrated against the Guyanese people. It was an attempt to get the top prize, the non-assented Bills passed.”
Asked about his views on why the main Opposition would take such a position, the AG pointed out that it is because those non-assented bills have one common thread running through them.
“All of them have one common thread, which is an unconstitutional and undemocratic hijacking of political power from the Government to the Opposition in the National Assembly,” Nandlall said.
The AG added that APNU’s latest public disclosure on the AMF/CFT Amendment Bill is one of “the most naked acts of sophistry” that he has seen in recent times.
“Fortunately, they will only be able to fool the uninitiated,” he posited.
According to him, the facts on the passage of the AML/CFT (Amendment) Bill are plain as day.
“The truth of the matter is, in a last ditch effort, to have a legislation available, even one which runs the risk of being CFATF non-compliant, before the FATF meeting in Paris, France scheduled to take place on the 23rd June, 2014, Government was prepared to cede to the Opposition and agree to enact all their amendments which were proposed in the Special Select Committee,” Nandlall said.

MULTIPLE ATTEMPTS AT COMPROMISE
He stated too that Wednesday’s meeting was the latest in multiple attempts by Government to compromise with the Parliamentary Opposition to ensure that the AML/CFT (Amendment) Bill is passed.
The AG said: “We tried to do so, firstly, via the process of the Special Select Committee. In this regard, numerous efforts were made by the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Special Select Committee, Comrade Gail Teixeira, to convene a meeting of that committee before 19th June, 2014, sitting of the National Assembly. We have a long line of e-mail exchanges between the Chairperson and several members of the APNU who sit on the committee to prove these efforts.
“Additionally, the President spoke to the Opposition Leader on the telephone requesting that he persuade his members on that committee to meet before the June 19 sitting of the National Assembly. All those efforts failed.”
He contends that in the end APNU has demonstrated that the party has only changed its name, but like the People’s National Congress (PNC), it remains “steep” in authoritarianism.
“In the end, this saga demonstrates beyond any shadow of a doubt, that the APNU is simply a change of name only. The PNC, steep in authoritarianism and which rigged every election in this country from 1968 to 1985 is still alive. They will stop at nothing to gain and stay in political power,” Nandlall said.
Guyana is, to date, grappling with regional blacklisting which was implemented by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) last November, which also referred Guyana to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on May 29 last.
Moreover, the country is saddled with a range of onerous measures in its financial dealings with Caribbean countries, which have been advised to safeguard their CFATF-compliant status in their dealings with Guyana. Among those measures are the following: enhancing due diligence measures in their dealings with Guyana; introducing enhanced reporting mechanisms, or systematic reporting of financial transactions; refusing to establish subsidiaries or branches or representative offices in Guyana; and taking into account the fact that financial institutions from Guyana do not have adequate AML/CFT systems, and thus limit the business relationships or financial transactions with this country.
FATF’s next plenary meeting is slated for the period June 23 to 25, 2014 in Paris, France – tomorrow. The international body is likely to put Guyana up for review by its International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) – a review process that Guyana could take as many as seven years to exit.
Written By Vanessa Narine