ATTORNEY-General, Basil Williams in his capacity as Deputy Chair of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), recently attended the organisation’s Steering Group meeting, which was held in Miami on April 10, 2017.
The mandate of the CFATF is to monitor the compliance of its 26 members with the international standards to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism through the Mutual Evaluation Programme, the AG Chambers said in a release. According to the Chambers, the presence of four Attorneys-General from Guyana, Turks and Caicos Islands, The Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago at the Steering Group meeting was an on-going demonstration of the membership’s commitment at the highest political levels on the importance of the Fourth Round Mutual Evaluations which began in 2015.
In recognition of the importance of high levels of compliance with the FATF Recommendations which are much more complex and resource intensive both in human and financial terms, Williams called upon all CFATF members to adopt a sense of urgency in their preparations for the Fourth Round Mutual Evaluations Assessments, even if the jurisdiction is scheduled to be assessed two to three years in the future. Williams will assume the Chair at the November 2017 plenary.
Williams also joined in solidarity with the views of the current Chair, Rhondalee Braithwaite-Knowles, Attorney-General of Turks and Caicos Islands,in encouraging all CFATF member countries to take the opportunity to attend Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary and Working Group meetings on a regular basis so as to get first-hand experience of the global standard setting and monitoring process as FATF member countries discuss and adopt their Mutual Evaluation Reports.
The CFATF Steering Group plays an important role in the direction of the CFATF in terms of good governance, transparency and fiscal responsibility. The attendance of the Attorney-General demonstrates the commitment of the Government and people of Guyana to these high principles which are critical to the international reputation of the CFATF.
Guyana was recognised as one of the countries which responded positively, and in a timely fashion to the call from the CFATF Secretariat for submission of data on technical assistance and training needs, so that the organisation could provide the required support in order to strengthen Guyana’s capacity to effectively combat transnational organised crime and confiscate illegal proceeds, through the training of financial investigators and analysts.
In this regard, Guyana welcomes the partnership of the CFATF/EU/CARIFORUM’s three year, 1.2 million euros project for the training of financial investigators and analysts which commenced work in September 2016.