CFATF warns of draconian measures should Guyana be blacklisted

Apr 28, 2014 News

The picture the team from the Caribbean Financial Action Taskforce (CFATF) painted should Guyana be blacklisted is very draconian and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) says that Government is aware of this and should meet the Opposition’s demand in order to avert this bleak outcome.
This is according to Basil Williams, who was a part of the Opposition’s delegation that met with CFATF Chairperson Allyson Maynard-Gibson who was accompanied by Executive Director of CFATF, Calvin Wilson and Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Irwin La Roque on Saturday last.

Executive Director of CFATF, Calvin Wilson shakes hands with APNU’s Dr Rupert Roopnarine following the meeting as other coalition members look on.

Williams, who among others briefed media operatives subsequently, said “we trust that the government would understand how important it is and that the greater damage could not lie in refusing in assenting to the Bills which were not assented by the President and the passage of the few amendments that we have to the parent Act.”
Williams was referring to the amendments proposed by the Opposition regarding to the Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act, along with the several pieces of legislation approved by the House but never received the assent of the President.
According to Williams, APNU is hopeful that good sense will prevail and that Government would “see the light of day and agree to the conditions of the APNU and the Alliance for Change (AFC) and meet them.”
Pressed on whether the meeting dealt with the proposed amendments and the possibility of them running the risk of being CFATF non compliant, Williams said that they did not go in depth into the proposals but rather spoke about them in a general sense.
“We didn’t go into specific details because we didn’t think that it was appropriate in the context of the meeting.”
The next step he said, would be to continue the work of the special select committee and if by some miracle all of the pre-conditions are met and the Bill completed before the May 29, review by CFATF, when Guyana comes up for review, he opined that the regional body would not turn a blind eye to the development.
APNU’s Chief Financial Spokesperson, who was also present at the media briefing, stressed that it is a two pronged approach, in that there is the work of the select committee as well as the demands made of the President, in order to secure passage of the critical Bill.
Pressed on whether there is room for flexibility on the part of the political opposition following the meeting with the CFATF officials, Williams responded by saying that there was no need to rescind on any of their positions.
Maynard-Gibson, who was accompanied by Executive Director of CFATF, Calvin Wilson, met with A Partnership For National Unity’s Basil Williams, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, Joseph Harmon, Ronald Bulkhan, Carl Greenidge, Ernest Elliot, Winston Felix, the Alliance for Change’s Leader Khemraj Ramjattan, Cathy Hughes and David Patterson.
The meeting took place at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition.