(Guyana Chronicle)GUYANA is once again positioned at a dangerous precipice with only one day to go before another deadline for the passage of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) (Amendment) Bill of 2013.President Donald Ramotar yesterday briefed the media on his administration’s last-ditch attempt to reach a compromise with the combined Opposition ahead of today’s sitting of the National Assembly to allow for passage of AML/CFT (Amendment) Bill.

And he noted that the fate of the AML/CFT Bill is still unclear.
“I don’t know what the Opposition is ready to concede to give us a bill that is CFAFT compliant,” the Guyanese Head of State declared at a press conference at Office of the President.
Guyana faces a critical deadline come tomorrow (February 28), when it is required to submit a report to the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) which must include a copy of the enacted Bill, that  will, after analysis, be correlated to the deficiencies identified by the body at its November 2013 Plenary meeting, before a report is made in May 2014.
The President said, “They wanted me to give them all of the assurances that they want, but the APNU has refused to mention to me what concessions they were ready to make on the Amendments that they have.

“I went further to say since we know that we have a Bill that we know is CFATF compliant, let us pass that Bill and let us send the Amendments that they have to the CFATF to seek their opinions if these Bills will be in compliance with the CFATF.
“…they have refused to say how they are ready to modify their positions…they want me to give everything they want and then say they will discuss their issues at the Special Select Committee later today (yesterday).

MORE AFC DEMANDS
According to the Head of State, the positions of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance for Change (AFC) have changed, as it relates to their bargaining of their support for the bill in exchange for support of the important piece of legislation.
“Their demands, I have said, are blackmail politics,” he stressed.
Ramotar explained that the AFC, as opposed to their one demand for the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC), the party now has three demands.

The first demand, the establishment of the PPC, is an already problematic demand, given that the Government’s push to maintain its no-objection in the award of contracts is being opposed.
“I told the AFC that I am ready to set up the PPC, but the Government’s no objection must be maintained,” he said.
The President maintained that the Cabinet does not award contracts and Guyana is one of few countries that have limited their role in the public procurement process.
“This is an executive function and if the executive is to be held responsible, this is the minimum we should have,” the President said.
Mr. Ramotar added that the question of no-objection is why the establishment of the PPC has failed to take off.
The Procurement (Amendment) Bill 2013 was read for the first time in the National Assembly last November and aims to amend the 2003 principal Procurement Act by making changes to section 54, deleting subsection six – effectively restoring Cabinet’s no-objection role.
Section 54 deals with Cabinet’s involvement in reviewing the award of procurement contracts and the phasing out of its functions with the establishment of a Public Procurement Commission, in the interest of decentralising the procurement process.
Subsection six states that: “Cabinet’s involvement shall cease upon the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission, except in relation to those matters referred to in subsection one which are pending.”
In addition to Government’s move to secure its position, moves have been made at the level of the Public Accounts Committee to address the establishment of the PPC.
The second demand of the AFC is related to the first, in that the party has proposed that the Government, instead of a no-objection, forward its positions on contracts to the PPC itself.
The President said, “This proposal was sprung on us this morning and it has to be examined….is it giving the PPC more powers than the Constitution prescribes, this is something we have to look at.
He stressed that the powers of the PPC, as prescribed by the Constitution, must be respected.
The third demand of the AFC, Ramotar said, is their adoption and support of APNU’s demands.
“Now they have changed their position and adopted all of APNU’s positions, including all of APNU’s proposed amendments,” the Head of State said.

APNU’S POSITION
Ramotar bemoaned the position of the APNU as it relates to its demands for the reversal of his position of the non-assent of several bills and the inclusion of three amendments, which the CFAFT advisor, Roger Hernandez, has publicly dubbed as “risky” in terms of compliance to international standards.
He said, “I did not assent to those Bills because I have been advised that they were unconstitutional.”
“…I have received a letter from the Leader of the Opposition suggesting that we set up a committee to look at the Bills that I have not assented to, on the grounds to pass the AML/CFT Bill.
“I responded to him positively by saying that I wanted this Bill (the AML/CFT Bill), without their amendments, and that I am willing to set up a committee to work towards a solution on the Bills he spoke about.I reiterated my readiness to set up this committee today.”
The President pointed out the dangers in reversing his decision to sign Bills that are unconstitutional, as per his legal advice.
He referenced the Esther Pereira Elections Petition case of 1998, where despite an agreement by Members of Parliament, a legal case did result.
“How do I know if I sign this, despite my legal advice, that another Esther Pereira will raise her head and impeach me?” President Ramotar asked.
He made it clear that, as it stands, nothing is preventing the Opposition from challenging his reason withholding assent and taking the matter to the court.
On the issue of APNU’s three proposed amendments, the Head of State said, “I have said that since we know we have a Bill that is CFATF compliant, pass that Bill and send their amendments to CFAFT to see if they are in compliance with CFAFT standard; and if they are not in compliance, then the Opposition should give up the amendments. If they are compliant, then they have the majority in the House and they can have it passed.I am giving my public commitment that I will assent to the Bill.”

NO HYSTERIA
The President also flayed APNU Member Dr Rupert Roopnarine for charging that the current Administration is “creating hysteria” with the pronouncement on drop-dead dates for compliance.
He said, “This is where our success in fighting for Guyana is turned against us…this is our efforts at diplomacy and our appeals to get time…this is used against us.
“All we have been doing is to protect Guyana from being blacklisted and when we succeed in getting concessions, we are criticised.”
Ramotar pointed out that if Guyana is blacklisted, there is not much that the country will be able to do to prevent or soften the impacts of such a pronouncement.
He said, “I don’t know what we can do if we are blacklisted, because a lot of the actions that will be taken will be done outside of our jurisdiction…the whole idea, the thinking behind this bill is to have all the countries in the Region to have a similar type of legislation. This is why there is an international sanction against the country when they do not pass the legislation.”
The President stressed that his Government will continue to “battle” for Guyana.
He said, “We will continue to argue our case. We do that, knowing that we will be lampooned at home for creating hysteria, but we will do what we have to.We will continue to fight as much as possible…the Government has no problems with passing the bill as it stands.”
Ramotar stated that his position is “eminently reasonable”, considering the circumstances.
“What is needed is patriotism and putting the welfare of our people first…the question of blacklisting will not arise if we have an ounce of that (patriotism),” he posited.

ENFORCEMENT
Asked about the shortcomings in enforcement with the existing legislation, the 2009 AML/CFT Act, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall said the CFAFT review process is a continuous one.
He added that the last wave of review underscored the failures of prosecution and institutional charges.
The AG noted too that in addition to legislative recommendations, where Guyana remains non-compliant, CFAT also made non-legislative recommendations, where Guyana has made progress.
These are: establishing guidelines for supervisory authorities, a whole mechanism in Guyana’s commercial architecture to connect them; the establishment of a national task force, which includes representatives from the Ministries of Legal Affairs, Finance, Home Affairs, and representatives of the Central Bank, the insurance sector, the Guyana Defence Force, and the private sector, among others; and the establishment of a Specialised Organised Crime Unit, for which the recruitment of staff has already commenced.
“We have done everything we are required to do other than pass the bill…Government is committed to making Guyana ready to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism,” he stressed.
The AG charged that the importance of the legislation is lost on the Opposition.
He said, “The government has exhausted every possibility to ensure the bill has passed.
“The Opposition, operating on the premise that the Bill is a Government Bill and if the Bill is not passed, the government will lose something and they are using this bill to extract all sorts of things from the government.
“…this bill has to be passed because it is important to Guyana.”
Nandlall added that the positions of the combined Opposition are “incapable of finding acceptance” with any reasonable grouping of people in Guyana.

ADMITTED DEADLINE
Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Juan Edghill, who was also present at yesterday’s press conference, underscored the fact that the Opposition parties have admitted the legitimacy of the February 28 deadline.
He said, “Guyana should not face the horror of blacklisting.”
He said, “To tinker with the 2009 Act when you don’t have the time to deal with compliance is putting Guyana at risk…the issues they are seeking to address are ones that require national consultation and CFAFT did not ask for these. These recommendations are of such a serious consequence.”
Edghill maintained that given the national importance of the Bill, it should not be subjected to trading support for demands.
“This is a bill to satisfy international requirements…The Opposition cannot escape the fact that they expose us to consequences because of narrow partisan, political, and in some case, personal interest,” he said.
Between February and May, it is expected that there will be dialogue and discussions with CFATF and the current Administration, with regard to the preparation of the report for CFATF Plenary.
If the May Plenary is dissatisfied with Guyana’s progress, CFATF’s November 2013 statement already provides the decision for the country’s referral to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which meets again in June 2014.
The report Guyana must submit tomorrow (Friday, February 28), also has to address Guyana’s plan of action to correct its deficiencies as part of the ongoing process, as well as report the conclusions on the AML/CFT (Amendment) Bill.