Mechanisms being put in place to

enforce AML Act

With Government having control over the non-legislative aspect of satisfying recommendations made by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), it has been putting measures in place to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
This is according to Anil Nandlall, Attorney General during a presidential press conference at the Office of the President on Wednesday.
Nandlall related that CFATF’s recommendations were given to Guyana in two components- legislative and non-legislative. Guyana is in default of the legislative requirements since the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Bill was not passed for its November 2013 deadline.
However, in terms of the non-legislative requirements, Guyana is moving swiftly ahead because it does not include input from Parliament. He said that Government has already established guidelines for the supervisory authorities.
“So that there is a whole mechanism in place in the whole commercial architecture of the country that puts all the organizations that have to work in collaboration with each other in the infrastructure created by this Act,” Nandlall said.
According to Nandlall, Government has connected them in working relationships with guidelines and certain regulations. In addition, a National Task Force comprising several organizations including the Ministries of Legal Affairs, Home Affairs, and Finance the Guyana Revenue Authority and the Governor of the Central Bank, Commissioner of Insurance, and Commissioner of Police, have been established.
He said that Government is also working on establishing an organized specialized crime unit (SUCO). It will be set up in the office of the Commissioner of Police and tasked with the investigations under the Act.
“You would have seen in the newspaper that advertisements have been placed…and recruitment of staff to that unit has already commenced. So work has already begun to put all the recommendations in place,” he said.
The Attorney General emphasized that the public statement issued by the CFATF in November 2013 indicated that Guyana has made progress; however, there are specific deficiencies still to be addressed. These largely lie in Guyana’s inability to pass the amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Bill.
“In a nutshell we have done everything we are required to do at this stage other than to pass the Bill. That I believe is a demonstration of the Government of Guyana, the Executive Arm of the State to move the process forward in terms of making our country to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism,” he said.