Guyana inches closer to Egmont membership following amendments to AML/CFT legislation

Dec 11, 2022 News

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Kaieteur News – Guyana has made progress towards acquiring Egmont membership following the passage of required amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering / Countering Financial Terrorism (AML/CFT) Legislation, the Ministry of Legal Affairs said on Saturday.

In a Press Release, the Ministry said that Guyana received an update on its application for Egmont membership and “is now a step closer to acquiring membership having recently passed further necessary amendments to the AML/CFT legislation.”

Guyana’s application is expected to be presented to the Egmont Group’s Membership, Support and Compliance Working Group on the Margins of the next Egmont Plenary scheduled for early 2023.

The Egmont Group facilitates and prompts the exchange of information, knowledge and cooperation amongst member Financial Intelligence Units (FIU). It provides FIUs with a secure platform to exchange expertise and financial intelligence to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and associated predicate offenses.

Meanwhile, the Ministry said that after attending the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force’s (CFATF) 55^th Plenary and Working Group meetings, Guyana’s delegation is optimistic that the country is on track in its preparation for its upcoming mutual evaluation. 

The delegation was led by Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mohabir Anil Nandlall SC. He was accompanied by senior representatives from the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the Bank of Guyana (BOG), the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) to the Plenary and Working Group meetings held in the Cayman Islands from November 27 to December 1, 2022.

The Plenary which was attended by hundreds from the CFATF membership as well as FATF and other international organisations, was the first in-person meeting of the CFATF Member countries since the COVID-19 pandemic.

At this in-person Plenary, Guyana was able to strengthen its position to combat money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) through a number of strategic alliances which occurred on the margins of the Plenary meeting, the Ministry said.

“Guyana’s participation in the Plenary is in line with the Government’s commitment to fight financial crime and money-laundering on all fronts. It is also aligned with our recent acceptance as a member of the Regional Security Services (RSS). Guyana also attended the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Asset Recovery Inter-Agency Network of the Caribbean (ARIN-CARIB), which is the operation arm of the RSS, focused on informal cooperation of the law enforcement agencies to facilitate exchange of intelligence in the recovery of assets accumulated from the proceeds of crime,” the press release said.

At the AGM which was also held in the Cayman Islands prior to the CFATF’s 55^th Plenary, Guyana was invited to become a member of the ARIN-CARIB Steering Group. The Steering Group is comprised of eight members of the network and is responsible for administration of the Group.

Delegations benefitted from presentations from regional and international bodies including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the United States Department of Treasury- Office of Terrorism Financing and Financial Crimes (OTFFC). This is in addition to extensive discussions on the mutual evaluation reports of Suriname and Venezuela.

In the meanwhile, on the margins of the Plenary, the FIU signed six (6) Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) with FIUs from Bermuda, Bahamas, Haiti, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the British Virgin Islands. The MOUs will assist in supporting intelligence gathering and analysis related to money laundering investigations.

Guyana will benefit from additional training to further prepare for the September 2023 Mutual Evaluation, with a virtual 4^th Round FATF Standards Training slated to occur in early January 2023.

The BOG also held discussions with the CFATF on the margins of the Plenary, with regard to sector specific training for its staff in preparation for the upcoming Mutual Evaluation, whilst SOCU was able to meet with other regional law enforcement agencies to create strategic alliances with regard to combatting cross border related issues of ML/TF.

Additionally, the Plenary also celebrated the 30^th anniversary of the existence of the CFATF, which was founded by way of the Kingston Declaration in 1992.

The 55^th Plenary was attended by Dr. Gobin Ganga, Governor of Bank of Guyana, Matthew Langewine, Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Ms. Alicia Williams, Head of Compliance – FIU, Mr. Karim Baksh – Head of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), Ms. Natasha Backer- Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions and Mr. Rommel St Hill, Anti-Money Laundering/ Combatting the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT), Officer in the Attorney General’s Office.

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