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Minister Benn on money laundering and organised crimes

Jan 26, 2024 Editorial

Kaieteur News – It took some time, but it is encouraging to note that Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn, is now acutely conscious of the threats to Guyana’s economy, and the Guyanese way of life.

This country was operating under its own stresses before, thanks to local lawbreakers.  Now there is no avoiding all the attention that it attracts from criminal elements across the globe.  Where there is plenty of money, and the rush of activity that this country has seen, then criminals make it their priority to get with the crowd of foreigners coming to Guyana, to work from the margins and shadows for their own profitability.

“We are faced with new challenges again with respect to our new positioning in terms of income and money and economic activity. The type and shapes of crime that we are faced with… money laundering, cybercrime, financial crime, trafficking in person and all of those issues”, said Minister Benn at his ministry’s recent press conference. The minister speaks to truth, is onto something.  For a country to become a target is the first step to it becoming a haven for the most cunning and the most ruthless that the criminal world has to offer. We already have our troubles with money laundering, but that has been minimised and largely suppressed as of late.  Guyana has an active criminal underworld that make surveillance tapes disappear into thin air, prompt officials to move, even push top political figures to twist themselves into knots.

This country’s lines of defense are either porous and collapsible, or flexible and cultivatable. There has been too much priority given to politics, with too little regard for the dictates of the law, when such is all that should be.  The astute criminal operators from other shores study the terrain that is Guyana, and they sense opportunities to plant what is dirty, and to reap what is pure gold.  It could be called the perfect confluence of circumstances, with all of its sordid elements: shaky institutions, manipulable officials, politicians who can be bought, and a supporting cast that makes life comfortable and rewarding for clever criminals.

For sure, the economics of Guyana is mouthwatering, which few can resist. The challenge for the Government of Guyana, and those places and people standing as bulwarks for Guyanese, is how to differentiate between those who are legitimate, and those who are all about what fulfills their objectives, law or no law. Foreign criminals have deep pockets, and they will invest money to make massive amounts of money.  In an environment that is prone to bribery, and where the people who have to stand strong and resolute harbour a deep sense of neglect, the odds are that past vulnerabilities and dangerous exposures are poised to take a turn for the worst.

The money launderers and organised crime figures are sometimes one and the same, and their wisdoms have created endless headaches for more sophisticated law enforcement jurisdictions.  What chance does this country stand to repel the arrival and assaults of those who come from all over in various foolproof disguises. The push to keep politics out of the sensitive places that serve as thin walls of protection for the local population, and the local way of life, has been all but dismissed, and largely ignored.  The predators have been doing their own feasibility studies of the Guyana landscape, and they thrill about what they see.  Now they gear up to move in for the open-ended feasting. Truth be told, some of them were already here, lying low, and picking their spots. The more that there is a flurry of economic activity, the more shelter and opportunity the criminals have to capitalize. The more that Guyanese remain divided, harboring sharp undercurrents of resentments, and at each other’s throats, the clearer the pathway for the criminals that come here to make a killing. If the situation so demands, then it is just a short, swift step before that could be taken literally, as in actually materialising. While politicians are consumed by their ambitions, and rage at perceived opponents, the real destructive ones are looking for any opening.  Crimes of a type and magnitude never experienced before are now here.

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