Guyana officially off FATF radar

Oct 23, 2016 News

… Compliance body lauds country’s efforts
Guyana is officially off the watch list of the global Anti-money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism compliance process of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Attorney General
Basil Williams

This is according to information posted on the FATF website following the plenary session held in Paris. The session was attended by Minister of Legal Affairs Attorney General, Basil Williams.
Following the plenary session, the FATF congratulated Guyana for the significant progress it has made in addressing the strategic AML/CFT deficiencies earlier identified by the FATF and included in its action plan.
“Guyana will no longer be subject to the FATF’s monitoring under its on-going global AML/CFT compliance process. The country will work with the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), of which it is a member, to further strengthen its AML/CFT regime,” the website said.
Guyana’s removal from the FATF global watch list is a major accomplishment in the nation’s fight against financial crimes and terrorism.
Guyana was at risk of being blacklisted by the inter-governmental body which is tasked with developing and promoting policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The blacklisting would have resulted in grave implications for the country’s private sector, trade and financial systems.
Last year, despite fierce objection by the opposition, the coalition Government 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.
In September a team from the international body conducted an onsite inspection as part of the process to review Guyana’s compliance to the standards outlined by the FATF.
The team subsequently assessed Guyana’s progress with the implementation of new anti-money laundering laws and had expressed that they were pleased with the steps taken.
The AG had also expressed confidence that Guyana will receive a positive review by the end of the Financial Action Task Force /International Coordinating Review Group (FATF/ ICRG) onsite visit here.
He said that the Financial Action Task Force and International Cooperation Review Group (FATF/ICRG) recognise that all of these changes have been achieved in a relatively brief period of time.
In addition, President David Granger reiterated his Government’s commitment to compliance and its importance to Guyana’s security.
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 done 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.