Anti-Money Laundering amendments…Private sector supports APNU on strengthening of FIU, BOG

Dec 22, 2013 News

The Private Sector Commission (PSC) has come out in support of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), in relation to its stance on the Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) legislation.
The PSC met with both APNU and the Alliance for Change (AFC) this past week to exchange views on the passage of the amendments to the Law and the deleterious effects of its non passage.
The Commission has since announced that it agrees with APNU that while the current amendments will satisfy the international requirements, the changes must include the institutional strengthening of the Bank of Guyana and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), sufficient to achieve the objectives set out in the Legislation and to ensure enforcement under the law.
APNU, during the meeting, pointed out to the PSC that, even though the Bill presented to Parliament in its present form may satisfy the minimum standards of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), it did not meet the conditions considered by APNU to be essential for the implementation of the legislation.
The PSC further urged APNU to support the referral of the Bill to the Parliamentary Special Select Committee and advised that it should make every possible effort to find consensus and complete the work of the Select Committee in time for the Bill to be returned to Parliament.
The PSC proposed to APNU that the meetings of the Special Select Committee should be held in public and APNU stated that it would support such a proposal.
In its meeting with the AFC, that party informed the PSC that its support for the amendments being passed in Parliament is conditioned on the government agreeing to the appointment of the Public Procurement Commission, as is currently legislated for by Parliament without any further amendment to provide the Cabinet with the right of a “no objection”.
While the PSC acknowledged the position of the AFC, it believes that the ‘no objection’ clause in the legislation should be retained.
The PSC told the AFC members that it has on more than one occasion urged the government, in writing, to appoint the Procurement Commission as is required by the Constitution. The Commission, however, proposed that the AFC consider a compromise in reaching a consensus with government on the appointment of the commission.
The PSC suggested that the Procurement Act should be amended to give the Cabinet the right to a no objection for contracts proposed by the National Tender Board, even after the Procurement Commission has been set up.
It said that “an objection can only be made if Cabinet believes that the procedures laid out in the Procurement Act were not adhered to…This is in the existing Act already.”
Under the current legislation, upon the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission, the role of Cabinet which is the council of Ministers chaired by the President, will be phased out.
The PSC is adamant that Cabinet’s objection should be made to the Procurement Commission as an oversight and appellate body, who will then review the reasons for the objection and make a ruling.
According to the PSC, “If the Procurement Commission disagrees with the grounds for objection and finds that the law was adhered to as per the Procurement Act, then permission will be granted to the National Tender Board to proceed with the awarding of the contract as recommended by them without referral back to the Cabinet”.
It further said that if the Procurement Commission agrees with the objection, then the matter will be sent to the National Tender Board to remedy the shortcomings and returned to the Cabinet for its no objection.
The PSC said that once the Act is amended by Parliament and assented by the President, the Procurement Commission should be installed with a level of urgency and adequate funding should be provided to ensure that the Procurement Commission can carry out its function effectively.
The PSC said that it informed the AFC that the Commission is willing to represent this position to the government in an effort to persuade consensus. The PSC urged the AFC that, in the meantime, the party should join with APNU in the Special Select Committee to find consensus on the anti-money laundering amendments.
According to the PSC, the AFC also agreed with the proposal that the Special Select Committee meetings should be held in public and confirmed that they would support such a proposal.

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Anti-Money Laundering amendments…Private sector supports APNU on strengthening of FIU, BOG

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