– so as to help safeguard its anti-money laundering integrity

GUYANA is preparing for the fourth round of mutual evaluation in 2022, as the effective implementation of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) must be addressed.
This was disclosed by Attorney-General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs Basil Williams as he addressed a training seminar of Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (AMLCFT&PF) assessors at the Bank of Guyana on Monday morning.

The AG said it is important that “we have in place adequate and effective measures to protect this country’s financial systems, because the country’s reputation depends on it.”
He continued: “We must have effective investigations, prosecutions, exchange and sharing of information among law enforcement agencies and relevant authorities at both national and international levels.”

The Attorney-General said the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) assessors are integral to the country’s success during the evaluation round, and as such the formulation of suggestions from the representing agencies is therefore crucial.

“Because of our past experience, we must resolve not to return to that list, but take every step necessary to ensure our systems are effective. This can only be done through cooperation and coordination,” Williams said.

He said adequate measures are important to protect Guyana’s financial systems from abuse by money launderers.

The AG said suggestions and recommendations should be made to enhance enforcement systems, since the seminar gives participants the opportunity to reflect on additional work that needs to be done to combat money-laundering and the financing of terrorism.
“All of us and those who are not here must work together to ensure that efforts bear fruit; this is a tremendous opportunity for us to coordinate and collaborate to implement the measures needed to see our success at the evaluations. We have invited two registrars, the commercial registrar and the land registrar to the session, and their importance will be highlighted in the session,” the Minister of Legal Affairs said.

Meanwhile, Bank of Guyana (BOG)’s Director of Bank Supervision Department, Ramnarine Lal reiterated the Bank’s commitment and fight against the scourge of money laundering.
He said the economic and social ills of money laundering only have a negative impact on the country, while the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s statistics has indicated that the proceeds from money laundering accounts for approximately five per cent of global GDP.
Lal said the BoG, along with supervisory authorities, should aim to strengthen all laws, since money laundering crimes pose a critical challenge to the integrity and public confidence in the financial systems.

He said that it is against such a background that all entities under the BoG supervision are AML/CFT compliant.

CONTINUED COMMITMENT
“Over the years the government has demonstrated continued commitment and support to combat money laundering and terrorist financing by embarking on a path of passing and amending legislations to counter financial crimes,” he said.

Lal noted that the authorities have strengthened the technical capabilities of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and various supervisory authorities under the AML/CFT Act of 2009, as well as investigative agencies involved in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

“We are well aware that these efforts have yielded successful results, since we were able to exit the list of countries with significant deficiencies, and consequently exiting the third round of mutual evaluation during 2016, which meant we were removed from the blacklist,” Lal said.

He said that although there have been significant gains, there is still a lot to be accomplished, as Guyana will be subjected to another round of evaluation by the CFATF.
He explained that this fourth round will involve two inter-related components; the technical compliance assessment, which will assess whether Guyana has the necessary laws and regulations in place, and if the measures are in effect and enforced.

The second component is the effectiveness assessment, which will determine whether the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) systems are working, and the extent to which the country is achieving a defined set of immediate outcomes, which represent key goals of an effective AML/CFT system.
Ahead of the assessment, scheduled for 2022, Lal said Guyana has already commenced preparations for the fourth round, and that with technical assistance from the World Bank, the country will be embarking on the second national risk assessment, which is expected to commence shortly.

“This assessment will enable us to identify, assess and understand money laundering, terrorist financing faced in Guyana, and prioritise actions according to the level of risks identified in each sector and to guide our national AML/CFT strategy to ensure that systems are implemented to protect our financial systems from money launderers,” the director said.

He explained that the major focus on the fourth round if effectiveness so there is need for us to provide adequate data to underpin what we as a country represent in terms of how effectively out regime is functioning in AML/CFT regime.

Lal said money laundering affects the prosperity of every country and proactive steps are needed to strengthen the requisite systems.