Current Money laundering amendments give Ministers outrageous powers

… Executive obligated to treat the legislative branch respectfully- Granger   

Proposals put forward in the current Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill, are dangerous in that it places enormous enforcement powers on Ministers of Finance and Legal Affairs; responsibilities which should be with institutions such as the Guyana Police Force.

“The Minister can have you arrested, the Minister can have your house searched,” according to Leader of the Political Opposition, David Granger, who yesterday met with members of the media and said that some of the powers proposed for the Ministers in the Bill, “are outrageous.”
Granger further charged that as it relates to voting on the Bill in the Full House, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) “is not prepared to go ahead on measures introduced by the Executive branch unless it respects the Legislative branch and facilitates the passage into law of some of the measures already approved by the Legislative branch.”
Granger was adamant that the Legislative branch is not going to be toyed with. “We are not going to deliberate on matters and have those matters brushed aside…the Executive have an obligation, they not doing us a favour, they have an obligation to treat the Legislative branch respectfully.”
Granger was at the time being time being grilled by media operatives on the positions taken on the Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill, currently at a Special Select Committee.
While Granger would not tie himself to a commitment to missing the upcoming Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) review, he said that “we are working to ensure that the Bill that is before the Select Committee is cleaned up and brought back to the National Assembly…from the start we said however long it takes.”
According to Granger, “as far as we are concerned it is dangerous to proceed with a badly drafted Bill.”
Asked what would be the fate of the Bill when it is taken back to the House, he reminded of his letter to the President and said, “When it comes to the National Assembly, the popular vote will determine the outcome.”
Granger said “we are committed to a clean Bill…as far as my letter to the President is concerned, I did say APNU’s support for certain legislative measures introduced by the Executive branch   would be dependent on the Executive’s assent to legislative measures which were passed by the National Assembly.”
On the matter of deadlines, the Opposition Leader said that they have heard of many in the past and that it should be borne in mind that the Government of Guyana under the Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) has had Anti Money Laundering legislation for 14 years.
“Everybody is now talking about deadlines, this matter only came to the National Assembly in April last year.”
He pointed out that “nobody is talking about what has been happening between 2000 and 2013.”
According to Granger, APNU can produce numerous articles and reports from the United States Department of State criticizing Guyana’s failure to implement the Anti Money Laundering laws, “not a single prosecution.”
Granger said that APNU understands the importance of Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of terrorism.
“We took this matter seriously from the first time it was brought before us…It is not an easy matter… it is not a matter of approving anything that was put on the table.”
According to the Opposition Leader, “it is a matter of making sure the people of Guyana were protected against draconian legislation which could harm their human rights and at the same time persons who are inclined to laundering money would be prevented from doing so and would be punished if caught.”
Granger was adamant that the existing Anti Money Laundering legislation which has been in existence since 2000, had been ineffectively enforced and as such “APNU felt it was their duty to ensure that the Special Select Committee did its work thoroughly without being rushed and without being forced to impractical deadlines.”
He noted that dossiers have been prepared by individuals such as Professor Clive Thomas, Chartered Accountant, Christopher Ram, Former Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran and the Bar Association among others.
“Those submissions are important submissions and I am very glad that we did not rush ahead and ignore those submissions…the submissions will contribute to giving the people of Guyana a clean anti money laundering Bill.”
Meanwhile, as it relates to the pleadings by bodies such as the Private Sector Commission (PSC) among others, Granger said “We are not ignoring any advice, there is a committee considering all of the advice.”
He was adamant that the most important thing for the Guyanese people now, 14 years after the first Money Laundering legislation would have been signed into law, is to have a clean and effective Bill and ensure that there is a mechanism in the form of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) capable of enforcing the law.
“Nobody is going to be fooled by legislation; they want to see enforcement,” said Granger and reminded that there has been no enforcement over the period 2000 to 2013.
Meanwhile, by way of a joint statement yesterday, the American, British and Canadian embassies said that their governments are, and will continue to be, actively engaged to support effective implementation of the legislation and prosecution of money launderers and financers of terrorism.
“We encourage all stakeholders to work together to finalize Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism legislation and ensure its effective implementation in order to prevent and combat money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as to avoid the serious consequences that would arise from black-listing by the CFATF.”