There must be politics in the FIU appointment

Mar 16, 2014 News

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) is not in agreement with the Private Sector Commission (PSC) to have the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU be void of any political influence.
The FIU is the body set up to gather information and intelligence for law enforcement officers to fight anti money laundering and other financial crimes.
Leader of APNU Brig. David Granger said that he is perplexed by the position taken by the Private Sector Commission, since according to him the FIU is being selected by political Ministers. “I cannot see that the selection by a Parliamentary body is going to be worse than the present situation.”
Granger said, “It’s an improvement because the Parliament is more balanced…we feel that it’s a move in the right direction to have it in Parliament.”
Granger said that the private sector has its own interest and expressed that APNU had meetings with the PSC “but we feel we have a responsibility to have a strong FIU and I don’t think the private sector has articulated the same issues we have articulated but we want a strong FIU, we want a strong Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU), a strong Bank of Guyana, a strong Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), I don’t hear the private sector speaking about this” Granger outlined.
According to Grange, there must be certain laid down criteria. He said, “Parliament is the best institution to have that. We are not interfering in the internal management of the FIU but we are just creating a professional framework so that the FIU and SOCU would be able to operate without undue political influence that’s what we are trying to do.”
Chairman of the PSC, Ronald Webster, said that the PSC had found favour with the Barbados model, which has an Authority in place to which the FIU reports. This Authority is made up of persons drawn from agencies involved directly or indirectly in managing the problems associated with money laundering and terrorism.
In giving a breakdown of Barbados’ model, Webster noted that the Chairperson of the Authority is drawn from the University of the West Indies and its deputy from the private sector.
The PSC Chairman had outlined that the issue is not about politics but the very lives of Guyanese.
President Donald Ramotar who responded to the position taken by PSC had outlined that he heard that CFATF was beginning to have problems with the Barbadian model and what Government is looking to have passed is a CFATF-compliant Bill.
“My contention is that we have a Bill at the moment that CFATF has pronounced on and found it to be compliant, and that is the Bill we should pass, if there is any amendment to that it has to be within the framework of CFATF,” said Ramotar.

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There must be politics in the FIU appointment

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