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Anti-Money Laundering legislation…PPP says Opposition should not set conditions
Amending laws against financial crimes is so important that the Opposition should not back down from supporting the move or setting conditions under which it would offer its support.
That’s according to the country’s Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall.
PPP Executive Secretary Zulficar Mustapha
Nandlall was sent to Nicaragua last week to plead for more time to pass amendments to several pieces of legislation which were bundled and presented to the National Assembly as the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of Financing for Terrorism (AMCFT) Bill.
The Opposition had insisted that it would not be rushed into considering the Bill in order to avoid the country being put on a financial blacklist by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force.
The CFATF is the regional body of the International Financial Action Task Force (IFATF), an independent inter-governmental body that develops and promotes policies to protect the global financial system against money laundering and terrorist financing, among other financial crimes.
After Nandlall submitted his case, the CFATF agreed to give Guyana until November to pass the amendments and if not the CFATF would be forced to blacklist Guyana as a non-cooperating jurisdiction, and member countries could impose penalties that would affect a range of financial transactions.
Nandlall said the Task Force was satisfied with the performance of the Financial Intelligence Unit. Also, he said that the Task Force was satisfied with the establishment of supervisory bodies over several financial arrangements.
Further, Nandlall outlined the government’s efforts to pass the amendments, including President Donald Ramotar’s unprecedented message to the National Assembly.
With the six-month leeway, the government now has to convince the Opposition to support the amendments.
The seven-seat Alliance for Change (AFC) has said that it would exchange its support for the amendments only if the government provides a definitive deadline for the setting up of the Public Procurement Commission and if the President re-considers assenting to two Bills which were brought to the House by the Opposition and passed.
But Nandlall believes that those demands cannot hold, given the importance of the matter.
“This Bill is so important that it cannot be hinged or contingent upon the happening of any other event,” he said.
He added that the Bill is sufficiently important to national interest that it cuts across the political divide.
“It’s simply indispensible to our national development and the welfare of our country to be made the subject of political football,” Nandlall stated.
The party’s Executive Secretary, Zulficar Mustapha, said that the PPP is concerned at the seeming disappointment by the Opposition, specifically the AFC, that Guyana was not blacklisted.
“Nevertheless, the party is happy that President Donald Ramotar has been engaging the Opposition on this issue among others and we remain hopeful that the amendments will soon be approved by the National Assembly,” Mustapha stated.
The Bill is now with a Special Parliament Select Committee. When that Committee completes its work, it will take its report to the full House for a vote.
The government had insisted that without passing the amendments before the review, severe sanctions would have been implemented. These would include a range of implications for the financial sector especially, humbugs in the flow of international funds, such as remittances and wire transfers.
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