Non passage of the Anti Money Laundering Bill

Apr 28, 2014 News

AG says International Financial Institutions will cease funding to Guyana while Opposition plays political football with Bill
“They are unconcerned about the damage that will be caused to the Guyanese economy and the Guyanese people including their own supporters; their thirst for political powers overwhelms every other consideration.”
Those were the words of Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall as he spoke to the recent pronouncements by the combined opposition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and Alliance for Change (AFC) that their position remains unchanged with respect to passage of the Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill (AML/CFT).
The combined opposition on Saturday met with officials from the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) as well as the Secretary General for CARICOM, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque when they made their concerns clear and reiterated that they will not be budging until their conditions are met.

Attorney General Anil Nandlall

The AFC has insisted that their support is conditional on the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) as well as the concerns that APNU has. APNU’s concerns are the assent by President Donald Ramotar on pieces of legislation that have already been approved in the National Assembly.
According to AG Nandlall, based upon government’s discussion with the CFATF officials, “we are aware that it was explained to both opposition parties that the consequences of Guyana being blacklisted shall be calamitous to every single Guyanese as well as to the region.”
He said that it was clearly explained that the people of Guyana and the Guyanese economy will be “estranged and alienated financially and economically from 190 Countries in the world, including the international financial institutions that will cease funding to Guyana. This is the magnitude of the devastation that will flow if this Bill is not enacted and the joint opposition continues to kick it around like a political football.”
“I have no doubt that it was explained to the Opposition that their amendments proposed will not meet with the approval of CFATF because of the institutional deficiencies which I have outlined on several previous occasions,” said Nandlall.
According to Nandlall, rather than act in the National Interest and support the already compliant bill agreed upon by all the parties since February the 9th 2014, “the Opposition now entrenches their position and are demanding a whole host of concessions from the government which are wholly unrelated to the Bill, so they are using the importance of the bill as platform to blackmail and coerce the government and the people of Guyana.”
He said further that “the demands which they are calling for all have a common thread running through them, including the bills that they want the President to assent and that common thread is the removal of Executive power from the government to the National Assembly.”
Nandlall articulated that the AFC knows that the Procurement Commission cannot be established in a day. He outlined that the process has begun for suitable personnel to be appointed to the commission and said that Government has indicated a willingness to move forward but “the AFC has been unable to get the APNU to move the process forward because it requires all three parties, it requires two thirds majority in the Parliament so if the AFC gets the APNU to move forward with the Procurement Commission next week, the government is ready to move forward.”
“APNU’s concerns about the bill have shifted, it seems they are not really concerned about the bill anymore they are saying that it is no longer legal it is political. It’s a pursuit of political power. For the APNU the Machiavellian principle of the end shall justify the means is what they are prosecuting.”
APNU’s Shadow Minister of Finance Carl Greendige had outlined from the meeting with the CFATF officials that the local delegations made it clear to the CFATF team that it was not a case that the Opposition was failing to approve the Bill but rather it has to meet the requirements of the majority.