HERE today is yet another column from me on the abuse of ordinary Guyanese by private financial houses in Guyana that has been going on for over 15 years.
This column is one of more than a dozen I have written over those 15 years protesting what I honestly believe is crass atrocities meted out to people who have ordinary lives and have no status or resources to fight these institutions.

I repeat once here what I have repeated ad nauseum – money laundering is the movement of illegally gained money where those who accumulated it use it through financial houses so it can become legal assets. The financial houses are used as a conduit for the illegal gains. The international banking institutions now have to adhere to requirements that are employed to detect money laundering.

Here in Guyana, there are a number of criteria that have to be met. What has turned out to be a nightmare that cries out for redress the past 15 years in this land is that financial institutions do not understand the anti-money laundering Act and apply it in wild west fashion as if we are living in a breakdown country portrayed in the movie by Charles Bronson named Chato’s Land.
Thousands of ordinary people have been harassed by the financial houses including banks, NBS and insurance companies where the anti-money laundering Act has been applied to their transactions that have absolutely nothing to do with money-laundering.

It is stupid to apply the Act to persons whose transactions are not connected to money-washing. The asininity of it resembles a situation where a businessman that applies for a licence to sell computers has to obtain a pesticide licence. He is not involved in the pesticide business. Why then are you asking him to have such as licence? The identical situation obtains with ordinary bank customers.

Here are two examples. I have had “millions” of complaints from people that when their accounts go dormant, to reactivate it, they have to comply with requirements of the Act. This is not only vicious stupidity but a brutal lack of commonsense. If your account is dormant then there is no movement of money. There can be no suspicion of money-washing.
An important figure in the insurance business in Guyana told me her account went dormant and she is leaving the money to the bank because at her age she cannot cope with the hassle.

She told me something I didn’t know which again highlights the oppression by financial institutions. To close a dormant account to avoid the hassle, she still has to adhere to the Act.
The second example relates to my wife. She went to NBS to close her account which had money that could not even buy a $72,000 steak sold by a restaurant on Church Street. The teller asked for proof of address. I was livid. I said that we do need to have that when we will not be putting money anymore into the institution. I flew upstairs to the CEO and he conceded for that particular transaction you didn’t need proof of address. This is the tip of the iceberg of the abuse. Here now is my daughter’s situation.

She got a renewal insurance notice from GCIS for her car which is 35 years old and the premium is $3,500. She has to produce a bank statement as proof of address and two forms of identification. I am asking the President, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, the Minister of Finance, the Attorney General, Bank of Guyana Governor and the Association of Bankers, how is the anti-money Act applicable here. Why should someone at GCIS see my daughter’s bank statement which is a highly confidential, personal document?

Paying insurance premium is identical to the service utility companies offer. My Blaze bill is $11,400 monthly. My electricity bill is $12,000 monthly. GTT and GWI so far have not asked me to produce a bank statement and two forms of identification for the $144,000 I pay GWI yearly and the $137,800, I pay GTT annually. Why then, for a mere $3,500 yearly, my daughter has to show GCIS clerks her bank statement?

Why is it to pay insurance of your car as a first time car owner which for ordinary people like me would not be more than $6,000, you have to meet the criteria of the Act? How is paying for car insurance for the first time related to the movement of money? This is what happens in Guyana. The bird of youth flew away from me a long time ago. If I was still young, I would have been in jail for the rest of my life for revolutionary activities.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.