APNU rightfully points out that
JUSTIFICATION
Leader of the Opposition, Brigadier (ret’d) David Granger, told the Chronicle that the amendments on the table have to be justified. He said the Opposition is astonished that Government had proceeded on its own with the Bill.
“We made it clear that our MPs could not meet, so (we) were quite astonished that the Government is proceeding with the Act on its own….the Amendments have to be justified…. This one is too porous, it is too weak, it is too flimsy,” he said.
Granger said the principal Act was passed more than four years ago, and while the CFATF had criticised the enforcement of the bill and the function of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which he termed critical to the Act, no case has been brought under the Act.
Granger said, “No reports have been submitted to the National Assembly by the FIU, and no prosecutions have been brought under the Act, as far as I know.
So it was quite laughable that (for) four years we had this Act, and the business community knew it was not functioning and the Government knew it was not functioning, the international community knew it was not functioning…. Only when threatened by sanctions the Government decided to bring the Act back.
“The Opposition’s position is that we want to give stakeholders (opportunity) to provide advice and opinions on the Act, and as far as I know, this is what we have been doing.”