ON February 28, 2014, the United States Department of State released its 2014 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report.

And it made clear that Guyana has failed to criminalize ‘tipping off’ or putting in place arrangements for asset sharing – a description that has caused the country to be listed as a jurisdiction of “concern” in the report.
The report describes the steps taken during the previous year by the governments of nearly 90 countries, including Guyana, to reduce illicit narcotics production, trafficking, and use; drug and chemical control activities; and money laundering and financial crimes.
Several months later, the negative characterization is still impacting the country, largely due to the non-passage of the critically important Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) (Amendment) Bill.
ADDRESSING THE PROBLEMS

Attorney-General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mr. Anil Nandlall, in an invited comment, stated that several of the clauses in the AML/CFT (Amendment) Bill address the problems highlighted by the US report.
He said: “Many clauses in that Bill addressed issues relating to confiscation of properties acquired from proceeds of crime, including all forms of narco-activities, money laundering and financial crimes and vest in law enforcement authorities, tremendous investigative and confiscating powers while also providing a regime of penalties against both direct and indirect involvement in such criminal activities, which penalties are considered to be dissuasive.
“…I have no doubt that the US State Department is well aware of the intimate details of this matter. Indeed, the entire diplomatic community, including the US Embassy in Guyana, was very emphatic in their appeals to the Opposition for the Bill to be passed.”
According to him, it is public knowledge that the diplomatic community met with the joint Opposition on more than one occasion. “Those engagements were, presumably futile,” he said.

WHISTLE-BLOWING LEGISLATION

Additionally, he stated that as it relates to “tipping off” the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Attorney General Chambers and Ministry of Legal Affairs are concluding work on a whistle-blowing legislation which comprehensively embraces this issue. The Bill is expected to be laid in the National Assembly soon.
Meanwhile, the AG reiterated the critical importance of the AML/CFT (Amendment) Bill.
He said: “I do not think that anyone is in doubt about who is responsible for the non-passage of the critically important Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill.
“It is public knowledge that the Bill continues to remain hostage in a Special Select Committee with the Opposition continuing to make unreasonable political ransom demands for its release therefrom and for its passage in the National Assembly.”

TEAM FOR FATF

A high-level team, led by the AG, met with the Americas Regional Review Group (ARRG) in Miami on September 29, as mandated by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
Guyana was referred to FATF last November by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), after missing a compliance deadline, as a result of which the country was blacklisted regionally.
Following last month’s Miami meeting, Guyana has now embarked on a process of putting in place alternatives to address the technical deficiencies in its existing legal and financial legislative architecture for the assessment of FATF.
“Were we able to pass the Bill then we would not have had to go through this process, but because we did not pass that Bill we now have to look at alternative mechanisms to satisfy the technical requirements,” the AG said in a comment on the current state of affairs.
FATF has appointed a special body comprising representatives from the Americas to work with Guyana for the purpose of making a presentation of Guyana’s case to that body’s plenary meeting on October 18-24 in Paris. This high-level team will send its work plan to Guyana along with other issues that they may identify for addressing for consideration by FATF.
Essentially, the final report that will be prepared by Guyana under the supervision of the AARG will be Guyana’s case to FATF at its October plenary.

(By Vanessa Narine)