AML battle...Guyana not yet out of the woods – Attorney General

AML battle…Guyana not yet out of the woods – Attorney General

Mar 31, 2016 News

With talks of Guyana being on a grey list, due, in the past, to the lack of legislation in place to combat aspects of money laundering, the state is now is a better position since the coalition government took over last year.
This was according to Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General, Basil Williams, who yesterday engaged with various stakeholders during a consultation session on the draft of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing Terrorism (AML/CFT) Amendment Act 2016.
The session held at the Ministry of Legal Affairs, Carmichael Street Georgetown, saw participation from members of the Private Sector, the Guyana Police Force (GPF), the Guyana Bar Association (GBA) and other representatives of key stakeholder organisations.
During the lengthy session at the Ministry, yesterday, there were many questions and various contributions.
Member of the Private Sector Commission and General Manager of Roraima Airways, Gerry Gouveia, raised concerns after he learnt that Guyana had appeared on a grey list.
But Williams said that since before he became the Minister of Legal Affairs, Guyana was in a “dark-grey” list. With the government’s commitment and actions to satisfy all the requirements set forth by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) and Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the state is now on a “light-grey” list.
Gouveia then went on to ask the Minister and the Legal Advisor of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Alicia Williams, about the consequences if Guyana should remain on this list and the effects it will have on the Private Sector.
He also asked about the steps that should be taken to allow Guyana to exit.
Alicia Williams said that Guyana was featured in the FATF’s Global Compliance Document. She continued that Guyana, and the other countries that would have appeared on this document, have committed to an action plan. This action plan, she said, is currently being addressed.
She further stated that in order to get off the list, all items agreed to be addressed will have to be undertaken. FATF will then have to be satisfied with the addressed items before another process called “get off” is initiated.
From noticing other countries, Alicia Williams said that this process is likely to take approximately six months.
The inheritance
Recommendations to comply with FATF and CFATF were inherited, the Attorney General said yesterday.
He informed the gathering that the reason for the session was to get the Bill into parliament as quickly as possible. He continued that the Bill, will attempt to treat the remaining recommendations issued by the FATF.
The Attorney General further stated that the Government had inherited several recommendations made by FATF but managed to reduce that number to one, which has three subsets. This recommendation, he said, relates to the identifying, tracing and freezing of terrorists’ assets.
He stressed the importance of satisfying these recommendations while noting that the “threat of terrorism is real.” The Minister made this statement while referencing the recent “terrorist” attack in Brussels, Belgium.
With regards to complying with the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) recommendations, the Attorney General noted that the Government had also inherited a “plethora” of recommendations that were not complied with by the former administration, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).
“…So this draft is attempting to deal with them (recommendations); there are about 10 recommendations that have to be determined.”
Despite fierce objection by the opposition, the PPP/C, the A Partnership for National Unity Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Government last year passed the AML/CFT Amendment Bill 2015, paving the way for all financial transactions in the country to be monitored.
Six months after passing the controversial Bill, Government returned to the drawing board to table amendments in keeping with requests by the respective task force.
Photo saved in Thursday’s file as “BILL”
Caption: Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General, Basil Williams and stakeholders during the consultation of the Anti-Money laundering and Countering of Terrorism Amendment Act 2016 yesterday, Ministry of Legal Affairs, Carmichael Streets Georgetown.

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