Government has tabled the Financial Institutions (Amendment) Bill 2015 which will be seeking to amend section 63 of the Act to permit disclosure of customer information by a financial institution to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) , where a law so requires or where the Revenue Authority makes a lawful request or demand for the information. The Bill will be read for the first time next Thursday when the National Assembly comes out of recess. Once the Bill receives the blessings of the House and assented to by the President, the unit will be renamed the State Asset Recovery Agency and it will be granted with more powers.
This amendment seeks to give teeth to the State Asset Recovery Unit that will look into the issue of State assets that have been siphoned off, both locally and abroad, by various people and bodies. Government plans to work with international agencies in order to establish international best practices.
Minister Harmon had noted that the Unit will be a multi-agency one, independent and free from political intervention. He alluded to the fact that eminent economist, Professor Clive Thomas, roughly calculated that some $300 billion were siphoned off per year, a figure that was upped to $500 billion by a major external financial body.
Meanwhile in preparation, a Superintendent of Police was sent to Rome for training on state assets recovery. He received training on certain mechanisms on how the illicit economy works and how to go about recovering assets. Since taking office after victory at the May 11, 2015 general and regional elections, the new government has been making a lot of heavy weather about corruption by the previous People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) administration but no one has been prosecuted so far. The new A Partnership for National Unity+ Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition administration has been receiving reports of certain government employees acquiring inexplicable wealth compared to their actual salaries.