OPPOSITION LEADERS MADE GOOD ON THEIR PROMISE TO THE CORRUPT PPP/C

No anti-money laundering Bill…Guyana

blacklisted

…warns its members against financial deals with this country

In November 2011, international regulators told the Bharrat Jagdeo administration that the country needed to take steps to ensure that the nation had strong financial regulations.

Attorney General Anil Nandlall

Two years later, the country is still to comply with the necessary measures and as such the Caribbean Financial Action Taskforce (CFATF) has essentially blacklisted Guyana. It has also notified its member countries to put counter measures in place when dealing with Guyana’s finances given the risks involved.
The issue centred on the passage of amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act. CFATF then said that these measures should be in place by May 2013.
Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon explained, last month, that the amendments were fashioned by CFATF and that Guyana had no option. However, for the two years that CFATF   ordered Guyana to get the necessary legislation in place, the administration did nothing.
The CFATF decision taken yesterday will affect payment for oil, family remittances, payment for goods and a host of other transactions that could virtually cripple trade.
The issue has been a hugely troubling one for the administration as the country could see severe backlash from the sanctions that could be imposed by member countries of the Financial Action Taskforce (FATF), including the United States of America.
Guyana has been found to be non-compliant as it relates to addressing its deficiencies in dealing with the Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism legislation.
The contentious issue reared its head in April when Government brought the proposed amendments to the law into public focus for the first time. It wanted an immediate vote, but the political Opposition sent it to a Special Parliamentary Select Committee for a review. They claimed that the proposed legislation was deficient.
Six months later, Government, through its chief whip, Gail Teixeira, wrapped up the work of the Committee and sent it back to the House without the Opposition involvement.

President Donald Ramotar

The Opposition promptly voted against the law reforms when the amendments came up for the vote on the main floor of the National Assembly.
When CFATF completed its routine review session in the Bahamas yesterday, it called on its members to consider implementing counter measures to protect their financial systems from the ongoing money laundering and terrorist financing risks coming from this country.
Guyana will again be reviewed in May next year to see if the deficiencies have been corrected, according to Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, who would have led a team this week to the Bahamas plenary.
With the news of the country being blacklisted, Government and the Opposition continued pointing fingers at each other over the delays and fallout.
CFATF, in a statement on Guyana to its members, explained that in November 2011, it notified its members that certain deficiencies in their Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) will have to be corrected. An action plan with target dates was developed by both Guyana and CFATF to address the deficiencies.
The body, in rendering its decision yesterday, said that as a result of Guyana not meeting the agreed timelines in its action plan, it has recommend counter measures be put in place when transacting business with Guyana
According to CFATF, “Guyana has made efforts to address its deficiencies, however, it has not taken sufficient steps towards improving its AML/CFT compliance regime by failing to approve and implement required legislative reforms.”
Needed measures

Opposition Leader, David Granger

Guyana is required to pass the relevant legislation and implement all the outstanding issues within its action plan, including fully criminalising money laundering and terrorist-financing offences, addressing all the requirements on beneficial ownership, strengthening the requirements for suspicious transaction reporting, international co-operation, the freezing and confiscation of terrorist assets, and fully implementing the UN conventions.
Failure will see the regional body referring the Guyana case to its head, FATF, and its International Corporation Review Group (ICRG).
FATF will have its next plenary meeting in February 2014, and at that meeting, on its own accord and independent of CFATF, can select Guyana for its own review.
Both the Government and the Opposition pointed fingers yesterday at each other for the mess.
On his Facebook page, President Donald Ramotar, fresh from his Sri Lanka trip, blamed the Opposition for the delays.
“It is with great displeasure that I announce that our country has been deemed non-compliant by the CFATF…This comes after the opposition failed to cooperate with government in passing the anti-money laundering legislation. This will have adverse effects on the private sector and the Guyanese people.”
He said that transactions through banks and agencies like Western Union will take more time and inevitably cost more. “The Government will remain steadfast in its approach in resolving this problem.”
Opposition Leader David Granger told reporters yesterday as he made his way to the Parliamentary session that Government, knew that law changes would have had to been made over a decade ago following the United States actions in response to financing of terrorism following the 9/11 attacks.
Granger said that after starving the Financial Intelligence Unit, a body empowered to investigate money laundering of resources and personnel for years, it was only recently that changes were made.

Prime Minister Sam Hinds

Granger said that Government “blundered” by refusing the Opposition to complete its work on in the special select committee
“All is not lost…Our intention now is to go back the National Assembly,” said Granger.
He added that the Alliance For Change (AFC), the other Opposition party in the National Assembly, is of the same view…that the Special Select Committee has to complete its work.
“We take no blame whatsoever. (This is) entirely the fault of Government.”
Teixeira said that the issue is a serious one for Guyana. The Opposition parties should “hang their heads in shame” for voting against the reforms, despite knowing of the deadlines, she added.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds also at the beginning of the parliamentary sitting updated the House on the CFATF decision. He said that Guyana will be severely affected, with the banking and insurance sectors under scrutiny, and will face serious consequences for financial transactions.
It will also impact Government’s provision of goods and services, according to Hinds.
The Prime Minister argued that the defeated Bill was a major part of the measures that had to be implemented. That defeat affected the country’s review this week in the Bahamas.
There may be “worse to come”, if Guyana is not able to put its house in order by February. Other countries have taken years to comply, according to Hinds.
Citibank in the US has already terminated its relationship with its local counterparts, while Trinidad & Tobago in recent weeks started putting measures in place for greater scrutiny of funds emanating from Guyana for the purpose of doing business there.