Parliament emerges from two month recess

Oct 17, 2013 News

… Anti money laundering legislation first on agenda

The Parliament has resumed from its recess and while no date has been set as yet for the sitting of the National Assembly, the work of the Special Select Committee tasked with addressing the amendments to the Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism has restarted.
The Committee met on Monday last but no substantial work was done.

APNU Member of Parliament, Joseph Harmon

The members of the Committee at that recent meeting sought to review some of the work that it has undertaken, as well as set the agenda for its next meeting.
According to A Partnership for National Unity’s, (APNU)Joseph Harmon, among the critical matters to be dealt with at the next meeting would be to review another round of documentation that was sent to Guyana by the Caribbean Financial Action Taskforce (CFATF).
Harmon told this publication in an invited comment that the Government will have to provide the opposition members with copies of the documentation that would have been submitted by CFATF.
The documents are in addition to the recommendations that had been submitted earlier by CFATF.
He said that while he could not comment on the content of what was submitted, the document was initially sent to Head of the local Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Paul Geer.
The Special Select Committee has already been presented with a number of submissions from local entities and personnel such as the Director of Public Prosecutions and Guyana Bar Association.
Asked about a possible time frame when the amendments would be returned to the House, Harmon said that it would be difficult to say.
He explained that the matters before the Committee include a matrix of amendments.
Harmon said that the amendments were not just for the Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act but also for a number of other pieces of substantive legislation.
He said that the political opposition would have to carefully assess the implications of the proposed changes in the legislation.
“We do not want to leave the body law in tatters,” said Harmon.
Failure to enact the amendments could likely see Guyana being blacklisted when it comes to international financial transactions.
Ninety percent of Guyana’s compliance with the CFATF to fight money laundering and the financing of terrorism are dependent on the passage of the amendments that is before the Parliamentary Special Select Committee.

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