AFC wants more “teeth” to law on financial crimes

Jun 09, 2013 News

AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan

…claims gov’t rejected expert recommendations

The Alliance for Change (AFC) says that it wants the new law on financial crimes to have more “teeth” and that could come from expert advice given to Guyana.
However, AFC leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, is now claiming that the government might have left out key recommendations made by a British expert.
He said he is now in possession of a document containing the recommendations of the expert that intended to add weight to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of Financing for Terrorism (AML/CFT).
Ramjattan’s concern with regards to the Bill is that it lacked strong provisions that would force the seizure of money which is laundered.
“The expert helped to draft a lot of the provisions for the Bill but these were not included in the Bill presented to the National Assembly,” Ramjattan told Kaieteur News.
Attorney General Anil Nandlall would be pressed for the reasons why the government deleted the recommended provisions. Ramjattan said that these provisions are included in the Grenada law.
When the Special Parliament Select Committee on the Bill meets on Wednesday, Ramjattan would be demanding answers of the Attorney General. It is unlikely that the Committee will finish its work anytime soon.
Guyana now has until November to pass amendments to various pieces of legislation that have been bundled together and called the AML/CFT Bill.
The Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) is demanding the amendments so that Guyana would be compliant with international standards and controls on money laundering and financing for terrorism.
The Task Force is an arm of the International Financial Action Task Force (FATF), 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.
The CFATF Review Panel late last month agreed to give Guyana an extra six months to get the new legislation passed.
In any case, Ramjattan said that he does not believe that Guyana would be blacklisted even at the new deadline if the legislation is not passed.
“I think CFATF would be looking at the route Guyana is going to perfect the law; and once they see we need moiré time to get it right, I don’t think we will be blacklisted,” Ramjattan told Kaieteur News.
The government is insisting that if Guyana fails to pass the amendments, there would be severe sanctions that would have a range of implications for the financial sector especially, including humbugs in the flow of international funds, such as remittances and wire transfers.
But while the AFC is participating fully in the work of the Special Parliamentary Committee, Ramjattan maintained that voting in favour of the Bill when it goes to the full House will be determined on the government’s response to its demands.
The party is maintaining 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.
The government has argued that 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.
“This Bill is so important that it cannot be hinged or contingent upon the happening of any other event,” Attorney General Anil Nandlall said this past week.
“Nandlall can say what he wants,” Ramjattan responded. “Let him speak when the time comes for him to answer the real questions.”

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