Gov’t stresses concerns to CFAFT team

PRESIDENT Donald Ramotar and a team met with the Chairperson of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), Allyson Maynard-Gibson, and her team yesterday at the Office of the President (OP) to address the deadlock over the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Bill.(QUOTE) ‘One point that we made clear was that Guyana has a completed Bill that has been examined by CFAFT and deemed to be compliant’-Nandlall

President Donald Ramotar

Mr Ramotar along with Presidential Adviser on Governance, Gail Teixeira, Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, Minister within the Finance Ministry, Juan Edghill, and the Attorney-General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, were part of the yesterday’s early morning meeting.
Nandlall, in whose name the Bill was tabled in that National Assembly, told the Guyana Chronicle yesterday that Government was able to underscore its points of concern very clearly.
“One point that we made clear was that Guyana has a completed Bill that has been examined by CFAFT and deemed to be compliant,”Nandlall said.
He added that one of the concerns raised was the fact that Guyana risks becoming non-compliant in areas the country has already been deemed compliant by CFAFT, as a result of the proposed draft amendments.
“The proposed draft amendments do not address the completed Bill, on which there is agreement, it seeks to amend the principal act,” he said.
The principal act of the anti-money laundering legislation was passed in the Parliament of Guyana in 2009, with the full support of the then Opposition which was then led by Robert Corbin.
“We emphasised our concerns that the draft amendments proposed now are unlikely to be found acceptable by CFAFT and, more fundamentally, exposes Guyana to becoming non-compliant in areas we are compliant,” Nandlall disclosed.

MUST PASS

Allyson Maynard Gibson

Nandlall stressing the importance of the enactment of the AML/CFT Bill said: “We emphasised the importance of passing the bull, not only affect Guyana and its economy, but the Region as a whole.”
The AML/CFT Bill is still with the Parliamentary Special Select Committee, which is reviewing it and is, currently, waiting on Chief Parliamentary Counsel Cecil Dhurjon, to complete a new draft that includes more amendments to the initial ones proposed by A Partnership for Unity (APNU).
APNU’s original three proffer a change to the entire governing apparatus of the FIU; removal of the Attorney General wherever that name appears and replacement of it with the FIU; and vesting a Police or Customs officer with the power to seize currency from any person, anywhere in Guyana, if those officers have reason to believe that it is the proceeds of crime or will be used to fund criminal activities.
In addition to their proposed changes, APNU is also calling for the Head of State to assent to several Bills he returned to the National Assembly with the explanation that they were unconstitutional.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs

Meanwhile, the Alliance For Change (AFC), which supports APNU’s position, is demanding the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC), that Government has agreed to, providing that Cabinet retains its no-objection role in the process but the latter has been rejected by the AFC.

ONLY COUNTRY
The AG stated also that the Chairperson of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), also the Attorney-General of The Bahamas, has indicated that Guyana is the only country yet to implement all of the body’s recommendations.
“She made it very clear that the consequences are going to be devastating,” Nandlall said.
In a prior comment the Finance Minister explained that, while Guyana has achieved successes with the non-legislative recommendations, the non-enactment of the AML/CFT Bill leaves much to be desired by CFATF.
“To say nothing is done is wrong. We have made successes here (with the non-legislative recommendations), what is left is the enactment of the legislation, the legislative recommendations of CFAFT,” he acknowledged.

Dr Ashni Singh, Minister of Finance

Guyana has already been blacklisted regionally by CFAFT. However, CFATF as well as the international body, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), host meetings throughout the year to review progress, as well as advocate changes to tighten the legislative framework that addresses money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
As such, Guyana then moved to amend the Bill based on the recommendations made by the international body.
Progress since then has been the subject of much controversy with political parties unable to reach a consensus on the way forward.
Guyana missed the February 28, when the country was required to submit a report to CFATF, which was expected to include a copy of the enacted Bill, which 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. Guyana, unfortunately, was only able to report on the non-legislative recommendations by CFATF.
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 FATF, which meets again in June 2014.
The November statement said: “Guyana must therefore pass the relevant legislation and implement all the outstanding issues within its Action Plan including: 1) fully criminalising money laundering and terrorist financing offences; 2) addressing all the requirements on beneficial ownership; 3) strengthening the requirements for suspicious transaction reporting, international co-operation, and the freezing and confiscation of terrorist assets; and 4) fully implementing the UN conventions.

Juan Edghill

“Members are therefore called upon to consider implementing counter-measures to protect their financial systems from the ongoing money laundering and terrorist financing risks emanating from Guyana.”
If recommended to FATF, Guyana could be subjected to the International Cooperation Review Group’s (ICRG) for review and could possibly face further sanctions.
By Vanessa Narine