Georgetown : President Donald Ramotar along with Presidential Advisor on Governance, Gail Teixeira, Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, Minister within the Finance Ministry, Juan Edghill, and the Attorney-General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, were part of the early morning meeting today with visiting CFATF representatives at the Office of the President.
Chairperson of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) and Attorney General of the Bahamas Allyson Maynard-Gibson led the visit by the regional body to Guyana for discussions on the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLCFT) Bill. Maynard-Gibson was accompanied by Executive Director of CFATF, Calvin Wilson.
AG Nandlall in an update on the meeting said, “One point that we made clear was that Guyana has a completed Bill that has been examined by CFAFT, and deemed to be compliant.”
He added that the proposed draft amendments made by the Parliamentary opposition do not address the completed Bill on which there is agreement, observing that it seeks to amend the principal act.
The AG stated too “we emphasised our concerns that the draft amendments proposed now are unlikely to be found acceptable by CFAFT and, more fundamentally, expose Guyana to becoming non-compliant in areas we are compliant.” He added that Government emphasised the importance of passing the Bill, not only for its effect on Guyana and its economy, but the region as a whole.
The AG also stated that the CFATF Chairperson Maynard-Gibson has indicated that Guyana is the only country yet to implement all of the body’s recommendations. “She made it very clear that the consequences are going to be devastating,” AG Nandlall said.
The team is also scheduled to meet with Opposition members as a result of their concern over Guyana’s situation on anti-money laundering and its outcomes, and to re-emphasise the importance of a Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) compliant bill.
Concerns are that the bill may not be passed by the time of the CFATF plenary, and it is hoped that the meetings with the CFATF members would provide the message to the opposition about the importance of having the bill passed, and about the repercussions of the failure to do so.
