GUYANA has made significant progress in addressing the deficiencies within its Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime – completing five of the eight recommendations in the action plan which was established in agreement with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Basil Williams made this pronouncement yesterday in an attempt to clear the air on a series of misconceptions that have been peddled by the opposition, People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) subsequent to the release of a report by FATF.

In a statement published on October 23, the international financial watchdog acknowledged Guyana’s high-level political commitment to work with FATF and CFATF in an effort to address its strategic AML\CFT deficiencies.

It was pointed out that since June, 2015 the country has taken steps toward improving its AML/CFT regime through the enactment of its AML/CFT Amendment Act 2015 but said more needed to be done.

“…FATF has determined that certain strategic deficiencies remain. Guyana should continue to implement its action plan, including by: (1) ensuring and implementing an adequate legal framework for identifying, tracing and freezing terrorist assets; (2) ensuring a fully operational and effectively functioning financial intelligence unit; (3) establishing measures for customer due diligence and enhancing financial transparency; and (4) implementing an adequate supervisory framework.”

However, this statement was misconstrued to mean that Guyana remains “blacklisted” by FATF due to a number of deficiencies.

But the Attorney General said Guyana was never “blacklisted,” adding that the country has made significant progress since the APNU+AFC Government took office.

“PARTIALLY” COMPLETED

It was pointed out that the three outstanding recommendations are “partially” completed. Minister Williams explained that there is a provision that allows the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to apply for a freezing order within seven days of receiving the relevant information about the assets of a designated or specified person but on the other hand there is a rule that says the reporting entity is prohibited from dealing with such property for at least five days, thereby creating a gap within the system.

“So what you have here is a gap between the five days wherein the reporting entity cannot deal with the assets of a designated or specified person or entity and the seven days by which the DPP is required to go and get a freezing order, so they are saying we have to deal with the anomaly created with this gap,” he explained.

This loophole within the system, he says, will be addressed “soon,” pointing out that the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) will be convening a meeting in November while the Americas Region Review Group (ARRG) is scheduled to meet before FAFT’s Plenary Meeting takes place in February.
Earlier, President David Granger had written the FATF President assuring him of the new government’s commitment to remedying the deficiencies.

Financial Intelligence Unit
However, when questioned whether there are deficiencies within the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the Attorney General responded in the negative, although FATF would have urged Guyana to ensure that the FIU is fully operational and effectively functioning.

But he explained that while the International Coordinating Review Group (ICRG) would have lauded the country for passing the AML/CFT Amendment Bill and for the other typologies that were done by the FIU, the Plenary did not mention those regulations when the meeting was convened.

However, he maintained that all of the recommendations in relation to the FIU were met. “So there is nothing to be done to the FIU,” he emphasized.
According to Minister Williams, the government was highly praised by FATF, ICRG and the FATF Plenary at the recently concluded meeting in Paris, France.

“The ICRG adopted the Assessors’ report of its regional arm, the Americas Region Review Group (ARRG) which stated inter alia, that the main development in Guyana is the enactment of the AML/CFT Amendment Act 2015 which became enforceable on July 10, 2015,” he reported.

The ARRG’s report concluded that “Guyana has demonstrated its commitment to comply with the action plan and is to be commended for having met most of the deadlines.” It was also recommended that Guyana maintains its status quo in the Compliance Document.

“The Compliance Document is FATF’s process of an ongoing review of compliance with the AML/CFT standards incorporated in an action plan agreed to by FATF and countries like Guyana identified as hearing strategic deficiencies. The three colour schemes in this classification are- Light Grey; Grey and Dark Grey,” the Attorney General explained.

It was further pointed out that the FATF Public Statement is the other category whose colour classification is Black. As such ‘blacklisted’ countries are those jurisdictions that are subject to a FATF call on its members and other jurisdictions to apply counter-measures to safeguard the International Financial System from the ongoing and substantial money laundering and terrorist financing risk meaning from the identified jurisdiction.

In the case of Guyana, Williams said the country is not blacklisted but is rather in a “light grey situation.”
Meanwhile, in explaining the process of “delisting,” the Attorney General said FATF would first have to examine the progress made by a given country based on the reports submitted by the ARRG and CFATF.

Once this is found to be satisfactory, the international body would then order an onsite visit allowing for a team of assessors to visit the country of interest to confirm the level of implementation.