Consideration of AML/CFT Bill postponed ‘sine die’
–new deadline is September 2015

SEPTEMBER 2015 is the new deadline for Guyana to pass the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) (Amendment) Bill, although the country remains subjected to the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) ongoing process of improving compliance.And Chairperson of the Parliamentary Special Select Committee reviewing the Bill, Ms. Gail Teixiera, told the Guyana Chronicle that the new deadline has given the combined Opposition “muster” in maintaining their demands before the Bill can be passed in the National Assembly.
“Consideration of the Bill remains sine die (postponed without any future date being designated),” she said.

MAKING DEMANDS
According to her, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) insists that the Government responds to its call for local government elections, among other demands, while the Alliance for Change (AFC) maintains its call for the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC).
“The position of making demands, extraneous to the Bill, in exchange for the passage of the Bill, has not changed,” she said.
At FATF’s last meeting, Guyana was mandated to undertake a number of steps to address the shortcomings in the local AML/CFT framework. Among these, which were outlined in a statement by FATF, are:
* Adequately criminalising money laundering and terrorist financing;
* Establishing and implementing adequate procedures for the confiscation of assets related to money laundering;
* Establishing and implementing an adequate legal framework for identifying, tracing and freezing terrorist assets;
* Establishing a fully operational and effectively functioning financial intelligence unit;
* Establishing effective measures for customer due diligence and enhancing financial transparency; Strengthening suspicious transaction reporting requirements; and
* Implementing an adequate supervisory framework.
According to the international watchdog, “Guyana made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and CFATF to address its strategic AML/CFT deficiencies and Guyana will work on implementing its action plan to address these deficiencies.”
FATF has also stressed that Guyana must act with urgency to address the deficiencies in the local AML/CFT framework.

(Vanessa Narine)