PPP likely to stay away from Parliament until AML/CFT Bill passes – AG

Abena Rockcliffe, June 20, 2015 | By KNews | Filed Under News , Source

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, told the media, yesterday, that it seems to be in the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C)’s best interest, to defer taking up its allotted seats in the National Assembly until the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) amendment Bill is passed.

From left: US Envoy, Bryan Hunt and Basil Williams

 

He said this just before he met with the ChargÉ d’ Affaires of the United States of America Embassy in Guyana, Bryan Hunt, who paid his first courtesy call on the Attorney General since the latter assumed office.

Hunt’s meeting with Williams would have covered a range of legal issues that are of concern to both the United States and Guyana. Among those was the need for the passing of the AML/CFT Bill.

Williams expressed optimism that the piece of legislation will be laid before the National Assembly during the next sitting which is scheduled for Thursday.

The order paper for Thursday’s sitting revealed that the Bill will be tabled that day.

Williams, who seemingly could not care less if the PPP takes up its seats, said, “If the opposition is not in Parliament obviously the sitting will proceed swiftly.”

He said, “It suits them (PPP members) admirably” to stay away from Parliament for the debate of the AML/CFT legislation. “They did nothing since 2000 (when the Anti-Money Laundering Bill was initially passed) …then it was improved in 2009 when Countering Terrorism was added to it. As the world knows, no one was ever investigated and no one was ever charged (for money laundering) under the PPP regime.”

Williams added that the PPP really did not have the political will to pass the new version of the Bill and therefore he is “really not surprised that they will sit out of Parliament until it is passed.”

The PPP was absent when the Eleventh Parliament convened on June 10, last. The party has so far signaled no intention to attend the second.

Failure to pass the AML/CFT legislation before September, could see significant impediments to international finance. This could be disastrous for the Guyanese economy.

In a previous interview with Kaieteur News, Hunt said that such penalties must be avoided.

He explained that the reality is that the Bill must be passed by a fixed date because of the commitments made to the international watchdog body, Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Last October, Guyana was among countries that were identified with AML/CFT deficiencies following FATF’s review for compliance. An action plan was worked out between Guyana and FATF’s review body – the Americas Regional Review Group (ARRG) and timeframes were agreed upon.

The United States Envoy had noted that if the AML/CFT is not enacted prior to the next FATF meeting in September, there is a “strong possibility” that Guyana can be put on to a dark gray list or a black list of states, that are not taking effective measures to fight money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

He further noted, “The reason we continue to raise the issue, is because we want everyone in Guyana to understand how important it is that this takes place, because if we don’t see such a Bill, it is quite possible you can see significant impediments to do with international finance.

“(This) can be disastrous to the Guyanese economy which none of us wants, which is why we kept pushing it off. We pushed off as far as we can push it off… The experts in the international community will demand that Guyana show up with that Bill in hand.”

Guyana was previously able to avert being placed on a blacklist by FATF. The (PPP/C) government and the then opposition—which now forms the government—had haggled on the Bill for over two years but agreement was never reached.

The country was subjected to an “ongoing process in improving compliance” to ensure that it discharges its obligations under the Action Plan which was worked out with the ARRG, and submitted as Guyana’s action plan.

The PPP/C government then delivered a letter to the FATF committing to remedy gaps in the country’s anti-laundering legislation, and FATF had indicated on its website, that Guyana has made a high-level political commitment to address the loopholes within its anti-money laundering regime by working with both the international financial watchdog and CFATF.

(Abena Rockcliffe)