Chargé d’Affaires of the US Embassy in Guyana, Bryan Hunt has urged the recently sworn-in David Granger Administration to ensure that the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT ) Bill is a priority in the 11th Parliament.
Hunt, who was at the time speaking on a talk show, related that in an effort to protect the country’s financial status and its economy, the new Government must work on the passage of the Bill at the earliest possible time. “I think immediately. I would hope that it is one of the first items on the agenda of the new Parliament. I know that there are a number of competing interests that will need to be balanced, as the Government goes through the legislative agenda but this is one on which there is a finite time clock. It is going to be very important that Guyana is able to present new legislation as it had promised … The indications I am getting is that it remains towards the top of the agenda and I hope that it will be tabled very soon in Parliament,” Hunt said.
Owing to the frequent extensions which Guyana has been afforded, the country now has until October/ November of this year to ensure that the legislation is passed and enacted, or it could be the subject of further financial blacklisting by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). In early 2013, the then combined Opposition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and Alliance For Change (AFC) had blocked the passage of the Anti-Money Laundering Bill in the National Assembly after a period of deadlock and lack of compromise with respect to the process, which was used to move the bill from the special select committee, to the full House.
The two Opposition political parties withheld their support for the legislation for the second time after they voted first to send it to a Special Select Committee, some six months ago, despite threats of serious sanctions.
Cooperation
Guyana was then given a November 18, 2014 deadline by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) to make amendments to the existing legislation, which was non-compliant with the sweeping reforms taking place regionally and internationally to fight money laundering and terrorism. However, despite the serious political risks associated with offering non-support for the legislation APNU and the AFC made a decision not to support the legislation, given what they had cited as non-inclusion of their recommendations such as the establishment of a Public Procurement Commission. As a result, Guyana was summarily blacklisted by the CFATF – the regional body that deals with financial crimes.
Meanwhile, questioned on what areas the United States Government will be looking to help the new Government, Hunt related that nothing has changed from the past government to now in terms of cooperation.
“I think there is not going to be a tremendous change necessarily in what we are prepared to offer. I get a sense there may be a change in what the Government is prepared to accept and the fact that we may be prepared to see a broader partnership on some of these areas, because our interests do fairly closely align. The US priority areas of cooperation are security, governance, transparent management of natural resources, corruption, Local Government Elections, parliamentary oversight and the participation of women and youth in decision-making,” said the US diplomat.
On the issue of security partnership between the two countries, especially as it relates to drug smuggling and human trafficking, Hunt said the fact that the former People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government had granted approval for United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents to work in Guyana alongside their local counterparts now means that there is a greater fight against the crime, with improved results being recorded.
He related that he is now expecting President David Granger to continue that partnership so that a stronger war can be waged, noting that “the indications that I have received to date are that the new Government takes the fight very seriously and that they want to continue that level of collaboration that we have built, that they welcome the continued cooperation between the counter-narcotics forces here and the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States.”
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