– 55th Plenary being held in Cayman Islands

The Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, leads Guyana’s delegation at the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) 55th Plenary and Working Group Meetings being held in the Cayman Islands from November 27 to December 1, 2022.

The delegation includes Dr. Gobind Ganga, Governor of the Central Bank; Mr. Matthew Langevine, Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU); Ms. Alicia Williams Head of Compliance -FIU; Mr. Fazil Karimbaksh – Head of the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU); Ms. Natasha Backer – Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, and Mr. Rommel St Hill, Anti Money Laundering/Combatting the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Officer in the Attorney General’s Office.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic this is the first Plenary and Working Group meetings by this body since November 2019. The Plenary, which opens on Wednesday, November 30, 2022, will follow the working group meetings such as the Heads of FIU forum, a working group of FATF issues, International Co-operation Review Group, Steering Group, and CFATF Risks Trends and Methods Group.

According to the Attorney General’s Chambers, at these meetings, countries who are in the assessment process get the opportunity to discuss key issues identified in their Draft Mutual Evaluation Report; countries that have already been assessed under the fourth-round process provide updates on progress made since their evaluation; delegates are provided updates on outcomes for the FATF various meetings, and on new and emerging money laundering threats in the region.

“These meetings also provide opportunities for member states to discuss the implementation of new recommendations and strategies and difficulties that may arise in relation thereto. Co-operation and the building of institutional relationships for exchange of information that may assist in new or ongoing investigations are enhanced,” the AG chambers noted in a press release on Monday.

Guyana’s attendance at these meetings is very important, especially as the country prepares for its fourth-round mutual evaluation which is scheduled for 2023. It gives the delegates the opportunity to benefit from the discussions of the mutual evaluation of two of its close neighbours, Suriname and Venezuela whose Reports are currently being discussed and will be featured prominently at the Plenary. Both countries have been flagged with various identified deficiencies.