PRESIDENT, Dr Irfaan Ali on Thursday said that between 2020 and 2024, Guyana has made world-class progress in its Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime, due to measures implemented.
The head of state made this disclosure during a recent press conference held at State House, where he said that in the latest evaluation, Guyana was found to have performed satisfactorily by the Caribbean Financial Action Taskforce (CFATF).
This, he said, came with commendation regarding the country’s assessment of risk, national coordination and the operationalisation of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
“Approximately 88 per cent of our legislative requirements were found to be compliant or largely compliant and 12 per cent as partially compliant, which we are currently working on to address through measures such as the drafting of the new bills related to companies, trust and the management of depreciating confiscated assets,” Dr Ali said.
According to President Ali, no legislative provisions were found to be non-compliant, while other sectoral risk assessments in relation to legal persons and legal arrangements, virtual currencies and combating terrorist financing were also completed.
Against this backdrop, he said that Guyana was already at a disadvantage when the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) as for two years of the assessment period, 2018 and 2019, no tangible actions were taken by the then government.
To this end, he indicated that the government had to embark on a novel collaborative process that brought together the public and private sectors in areas of finance, natural resources and law enforcement among others to meet this goal.
Upon entering office, President Ali said that in that 2018/2019 report, the key deficiencies that had to be addressed were the need for further human and financial resources for the Special, Organised Crime Unit, the lack of supervisory oversight for accountants and attorneys and legislative deficiencies in key areas such as confiscation, targeted financial sanctions, national coordination and international cooperation.
Additional things to be addressed was ineffective legislation, such as the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) Act, which he noted was continually struck down in court.
As a result, Dr Ali indicated that several actions had to be taken to receive the most recent result from the CFATF.
“In 2022 we rectified legislative and administrative deficiencies,which [had] prevented the FIU from fully being involved in the global information exchange body for FIUs, the Egmont Group and we are now a part of the Egmont Group,” he said.
Added to this, the Guyana Compliance Commission Act was passed to provide anti-money laundering oversight for attorneys, accountants and notaries.
This act the president said bans the use of virtual currencies based on the risk assessment, with a policy decision expected to be taken in 2026.
Further to this, an act for the licensing and supervision of the real estate industry provides further requirements for real estate agents and brokers and ensures fair regulation of the industry.
Among changes made, he added, were amendments to the AML/CFT Act “creating stronger provisions to effect confiscation and restraint of monies properties and instrumentalities using drug trafficking, money laundering and other financial crimes.”
In relation to the enforcement side, he indicated that they saw significant actions in cash seizure by the Guyana Revenue Authority, seizure of gold by the customs authority and the Guyana Police Force and seizure of vehicles by CANU and SOCU, as well as other instrumentalities such as aircraft and marine assets.
Meanwhile, earlier this week during an airing of his programme, Issues in the News, Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC, stated that Guyana’s financial system was under review and this process lasted for approximately two years.
“It was intense and almost every aspect of Guyana’s financial and legal architecture relative to our AML/CFT structures were examined in great detail by assessors appointed by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force,” Nandlall said.
The legal affairs minister noted that when this process was completed and a draft mutual evaluation report was completed, examined and presented, in the end the country’s financial structure and system were accepted and were favourable in all areas examined.
He said: “In the end, Guyana was able to acquit itself and its financial system with distinction in that very probative and interrogating and gruelling assessment to which we were subject.”
This he said, further indicates that the country’s financial system and the AML/CFT architecture do not pose a risk of any kind with regard to international standards.
