ATTORNEY General and Legal Affairs Minister, Basil Williams, has confirmed that a Director has been identified for the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). He refused to provide a name, but said a name will be provided when the nomination is brought before the National Assembly at its next sitting.With the contract for the Director of the FIU having expired last December, and with the Opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) having refused to assume their seats in both the National Assembly and the Parliamentary Committee on Appointments, the sourcing of a new Director was stalled.

“A new Director has already been identified, and will be voted on at the next sitting of the National Assembly,” the AG told reporters at a press conference held on Friday at his Carmichael Street chambers.

He said this development proves that the David Granger Administration has made strides which have “brought Guyana to the position where it can exit both the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) regimes.”

CFATF has informed Guyana, through this country’s Tenth Follow-Up Report from earlier this month, that “Guyana has significantly improved its overall level of compliance and, most importantly, Guyana has duly addressed the core and key recommendations,” the minister revealed. However, Guyana must still satisfy the criterion of applying to exit the follow-up process, which must first be completed in keeping with the FATF/ICRG [International Co-operation Review Group] process.

The AG also reported Guyana being given a “clean bill of health” by the Americas Regional Review Group (ARRG) as of May, 2016, owing to the amendments Guyana made to the requisite Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) legislation.

When this administration came to office, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) had been comprised of a director which could be removed by the President, and operated as the sole authority on the Unit.

Changes to that arrangement by this Administration, according to the Attorney General, saw the Unit being upgraded with a deputy director, attorney-at-law, and an accountant who also enjoy tenure of post subject to this administration’s amendments.

The appointment of these four officers, via changes to Section 5 of the AML/CFT Amendment Act 2015 and Section 8 of the AML/CFT Act 2009, was amended to a simple majority in the National Assembly, and their removal followed a similar process.

Further amendments to Section 9 of the AML/CFT Act 2009 saw these four officers comprising a Committee of Management along with other managers of the FIU.

While the director has been named, according to the AG’s statement, “interviews of the applicants for deputy director have also been concluded, and the process continues for the attorney-at-law and accountant.”