A HIGH-LEVEL team, led by Attorney-General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mr Anil Nandlall, is representing Guyana at the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) plenary meeting, which started on October 18 and runs until October 24 in Paris.

The outcome of the meeting is a much-anticipated one, given Guyana’s cited failures relative to the passage of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) (Amendment) Bill.
Whether Guyana will be blacklisted or not will be determined by the international watchdog body.
Last month, the AG and his team met with the Americas Regional Review Group (ARRG) in Miami on September 29, as mandated by 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 from 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.

(Vanessa Narine)