There used to be a time when the price of gold in Guyana was below US$ 300 per oz. That was a long time ago but it was during that period that plenty men and women made big gold chains and heavy gold bands.
Goldsmiths made good money because plenty people were ordering jewellery back then. People even came from overseas to make earrings and nose rings and ankle chains and necklaces.In those days you could buy a heavy gold chain for $300,000. You could make a cricket band with a few diamonds for the same sum. Since then the price of gold has increased to almost six times before falling a few years ago.
When the price increased, most goldsmiths experienced a slump in business. People could no longer afford to make jewellery. With the decline in gold prices to around US$ 1100 per ounce, things have improved, but only slightly.
In the days when gold prices were low, jewellery was not considered as currency. Currency was considered as paper money — cash and travellers’ cheques.If you were leaving Guyana, the law required that if you had US$10,000 or more or in cash you were required to declare it. Nobody checked the value of the jewellery you were wearing. There was never a problem with what you had on.People were leaving and coming with gold ropes around their necks. Some ladies had more bangles than Christmas decorations. Nobody told them that they were smuggling gold out the country or laundering currency.
The problem arose when APNU was in opposition and proposed the more ridiculous and nonsensical changes to the Anti- Money Laundering and the Countering of Terrorism Bill. APNU was proposing that powers be granted to the police to detain currency exceeding two million dollars.There was uproar over the change because some salesmen were known to do more business than that on a daily basis and if perchance they were found with that amount it could be detained until they gave a satisfactory explanation.
Not many people felt safe with the police having such powers. APNU also proposed expanding the definition of “currency” to include jewellery.This means that if you only had US$2,000 in currency but your jewellery on your person was one of those rope chains or expensive diamond rings worn by the rich and famous, you could have the jewellery and the currency detained under the anti- money laundering laws. Those laws were not passed by the PPP.
When the new government came to power last May, they amended the laws to enlarge the definition of currency. But the thresholds as increased from what APNU had originally proposed.
This means that a person can be charged if the total value of the currency and jewellery on them exceeds US$G10M.
It is hard to see anyone wearing or carrying currency in this sum overseas unless they are doing a business. It is more difficult to contemplate someone having on his person more than ten million in jewellery.
But that is the anti- money laundering law. Guyana’s exchange laws require someone to declare any currency in excess of US$10,000. This law, as far as is known, does not consider jewellery as currency.
It was therefore shocking to read reports in the media about someone being detained and questioned about the jewellery that he was wearing and being accused of money laundering. There was another report that the jewellery was detained.There needs to b clarification by the authorities as to just what are the laws governing the movement of personal jewellery in Guyana as well as other forms of currency.
This is going to be a year when thousands of Guyanese from overseas will be coming back home. A lot of them wear imitation gold jewellery which looks like real gold but is not. They need to know the law. They need assurances that they will not be harassed at the airport.
Since when are people assessing the value of gold chain and gold band at the airport? This is a frightening!
If this is the harassment that persons are going to be subjected to then they had better stop off in some other country and spend their holiday rather than risking being detained in Guyana for their imitation jewellery.