Guyana to set its own deadline to enact Anti Money Laundering Bill

Sep 22, 2013 News

– Teixeira hopeful that opposition pushes through, Granger wants to take his time

Guyana missed the August, 26 deadline that was purported to have been set by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF). Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall says that Guyana will now “surely” be blacklisted.
At that time the AG spoke nothing about Guyana being given another chance to get its act together. In fact, the Minister had said that Guyana will be sanctioned based on the report he submitted; the one which didn’t indicate that Guyana enacted the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act.

Presidential Advisor, Gail Teixeira

However, last Thursday, Presidential Advisor Gail Teixeira, at a Government’s post Cabinet briefing said that Government is now “cautiously optimistic” that the Opposition will have a change of heart and quickly pass the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act.
Teixeira said that Nandlall briefed Cabinet about the most recent developments subsequent to his presentation to CFATF.
According to Teixeira, the AG disclosed that CFATF had deemed the report incomplete. She said that incomplete designation was due to Guyana’s inability to pass the Bill in the Tenth Parliament of Guyana for the stipulated time.
The Presidential Advisor said that despite being apprised about the current situation regarding the Special Select Committee on the Bill, CFATF still insisted on a definitive date from Guyana at which Guyana will enact the Bills. Teixeira indicated that that date must be set so that a new report can be submitted before November when CFATF is scheduled to meet again.
Teixeira opined that the recent past behavior of the Opposition in general but especially with regards to the Bills does not say well for the future.
She said that in the meantime, however, while CFATF noted favorably the non legislative interventions by the executive which accounts for 20 percent of the recommendations by CFATF, further progress is being urged.
Teixeria, as the Chairman of the Special Select Committee set up to fine tune the Bill, said that as soon as the recess comes to an end she will be convening a meeting with the hope of reaching an agreement.
But on Friday last, A Partnership for National Unity Leader, David Granger said that APNU is not bound by “these bogus deadlines that the government keeps coming up with. We are bound by the precepts of good governance; and we want to ensure that the errors of the existing financial intelligence unit and the existing act do not repeat the flaws.
“We now have an obligation to the people of Guyana to ensure that any amendments clog the loopholes and give the people of this country an act that is more or less water proof…We are taking our time to ensure that we listen to civil society so that we can get the best…We are not going to be rushed into making another bad Act. We have too many of them already.

APNU Leader, David Granger

Guyana missed the August 26 deadline after the Opposition members, who were all in attendance at a Special Select Committee meeting, moved a motion to adjourn all meetings at that level until October.
The motion was moved by APNU member and former Minister of Finance, Carl Greenidge. It was seconded by Alliance For Change (AFC)’s Khemraj Ramjattan.
Members of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), at that time, told Kaieteur News that Guyana is already “dark gray listed” and that the Government itself is linked to acts of money laundering. It was also noted that the party doesn’t believe that the August 26 deadline really did exist.
Further, Greenidge asserted that “Government itself is tainted by criminalities that bedevil our system…The PPP have been accused, and in some cases, proven to have associations with people who have been charged with all sorts of criminalities like fraud and money laundering in the United States. The government is very friendly with these types of people.”
Only after the work of the committee is completed and a revised Bill presented to the National Assembly along with a report from the committee, can the Bill be voted upon and passed.