FATF/CFATF pleased with Guyana’s progress in short period

Sep 16, 2016 News

A team that is in Guyana to assess progress with the implementation of new anti-money laundering laws is pleased with the steps taken.
Assessor from the Americas Regional Review Group (ARRG) Assessor, Gonzalez de

Seated from left are FATF’s Senior Policy Analyst, Kevin Vandergrift; ARRG Assessor, Gonzalo Gonzalez de Lara; President David Granger, Attorney General, Basil Williams; CFATF’s Executive Director, Calvin Wilson and CFATF’s Financial Adviser, Roger Hernandez

Lara, yesterday disclosed that the team is happy with Government’s efforts and the work being done by the various law enforcement agencies.
He also said that the Financial Action Task Force and International Cooperation Review Group (FATF/ICRG) recognises that all of these changes have been achieved in a relatively brief period of time.
The disclosures were made yesterday when the group met with President David Granger at the Ministry of the Presidency.
The team was accompanied by Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams.
The visiting delegation included CFATF’s Financial Adviser, Roger Hernandez; CFATF’s Executive Director, Calvin Wilson; and FATF’s Senior Policy Analyst, Kevin Vandergrift.
President David Granger reiterated his Government’s commitment to compliance and its importance to Guyana’s security, a Ministry of the Presidency statement said.
“We welcome your coming here and the work you are here to do and we look forward to favourable outcomes… We are committed to ensuring that there is full compliance in every respect,” President Granger said.
With regards to the political will to comply, the President explained to the visiting team that his Coalition Government is made up of six different political parties, each of which has a firm stance against financial impropriety. He also spoke of the menu of measures that his Administration has taken, in just a little over a year, in keeping with the recommendations of the FATF/CFATF, including the passage of required legislation.
He reminded that as a small country with porous borders, Guyana is vulnerable to transnational crimes such as human trafficking and contraband smuggling and as such, the country has been doing its best to tackle these problems within the limit of its resources.
In addition, Minister Williams noted that while there is still some resistance to the new measures, the Government has been doing a lot of work to ensure that the population gets a better understanding of the importance of fighting money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
Guyana passed new laws this year which called for local financial institutions to put stricter controls in place to ensure dirty money does not enter the banking system.

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