Guyana’s progress in implementing recommendations to strengthen anti-money laundering legislation will be examined later this month in Nicaragua and government’s tabling of amendments to the law is seen as rushed as Georgetown could face increased scrutiny and foreign investment could be affected.
It has been four years since the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of Terrorism law was enacted and government has faced criticism that the provisions are not being implemented. Guyana belongs to the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) – an organisation of twenty-nine states of the Caribbean Basin which have agreed to implement common countermeasures to address the problem of criminal money laundering. The CFATF is affiliated to the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) which is an international policy-making body that sets international anti-money laundering standards and counter-terrorist financing measures.
The last evaluation of Guyana found that while authorities have started to comply with some of the body’s recommendations, the measures taken remained minimal. During a meeting in May 2011 in Honduras Guyana was placed on expedited follow-up and required to report to every Plenary of the CFATF. A third follow-up report was submitted in November on measures taken to comply with the recommendations and following a review, it was recommended that Guyana remain on expedited follow-up. Guyana was rated partially compliant or noncompliant on 16 Core and Key Recommendations and 25 other Recommendations.
The 37th Plenary meeting of the CFATF will be held in Managua, Nicaragua from May 27-30 and Guyana’s progress will again be reviewed.
Attorney General Anil Nandlall two Mondays ago tabled the Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Bill 2013 specifically to meet FATF recommendations to address weaknesses in the Principal Act and related legislation and the Bill is expected to come up for debate in the National Assembly tomorrow. However, the opposition wants the AML/CFT Bill to be sent to a select committee as it is complex and they believe it needs to be scrutinized and the provisions thoroughly understood.
The main opposition, APNU on Friday met with US Ambassador Brent Hardt, British High Commissioner Andrew Ayre, Canadian High Commissioner David Devine and the Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Guyana Robert Kopecky, to discuss APNU’s concerns in relation to the Bill.
“The meeting benefited from a very frank and detailed exchange of views on the concerns of the Opposition, including the poor implementation track record of the Administration of the provisions of the existing Anti Money Laundering Legislation; the willingness and commitment of the Administration to establish the necessary technical capacity for implementation of the legislation; the independence, security and protection of the staff of the FIU; and the fact that, to date, no effort has been made by the Administration to consult with the Opposition despite the imminence of the 27th May 2013 deadline,” a statement from APNU yesterday said.
APNU leader David Granger told Stabroek News that the coalition is supportive of the Bill but is concerned that the provisions need to be fully examined and understood. “We assured the ambassadors that we were committed to the passage of the legislation once it has been considered by the Select Committee,” he said.
Granger pointed out that they are also concerned that government has passed the anti-money laundering law but implementation is minimal and they want to ensure that more is done. “We’ve been fooled before,” he said. “We are not opposed to the legislation. We just want to ensure this time, that government implements the legislation fully.”
Granger also said that Guyana could face sanctions should it not implement the recommendations. “It would be black-listed,” he said. “Guyana… is likely to be blacklisted by International Financial Institutions.”
Since 2007, the FATF’s International Co-operation Review Group (ICRG) has analysed high-risk jurisdictions and recommended specific action to address the money laundering/financing of terrorism risks emanating from them. In 2009, the Leaders of the Group of 20 specifically called on the FATF to reinvigorate its process for assessing countries’ compliance with international AML/CFT standards and to publicly identify high-risk jurisdictions by February 2010.
Initial referral to the ICRG is based primarily on the results of the jurisdiction’s – here it would be the CFATF ‒ mutual evaluation. Jurisdic-tions whose mutual evaluation reveals a significant number of key deficiencies are cies are referred to the ICRG for a preliminary review conducted by one of four ICRG regional review groups. This initial review includes outreach to each jurisdiction, including the opportunity to comment on the draft prima facie report. Based upon that report, the FATF decides whether it should conduct a more in-depth review of the jurisdiction’s key strategic AML/CFT deficiencies. Each reviewed jurisdiction is provided an opportunity to participate in face-to-face meetings with the regional review group to discuss the report, including developing an action plan with the FATF to address the deficiencies identified. The FATF specifically requests high-level political commitment from each reviewed jurisdiction to implement these action plans.
Based on the results of the review by the ICRG, jurisdictions may be publicly identified in one of the two FATF public documents that are issued three times a year. The first public document, the FATF’s Public Statement, identifies jurisdictions that have strategic AML/CFT deficiencies and to which counter-measures apply and jurisdictions with strategic AML/CFT deficiencies that have not made sufficient progress in addressing the deficiencies or have not committed to an action plan developed with the FATF to address the deficiencies
The second FATF public document, Improving Global AML/CFT Compliance: Ongoing Process, identifies jurisdictions with strategic AML/CFT deficiencies that have provided a high-level political commitment to address the deficiencies through implementation of an action plan developed with the FATF.
Meantime, APNU yesterday also disclosed that the meeting with the ambassadors saw discussions on the status of the Local Government Reform legislation now before a Special Select Committee of the National Assembly and the prospect for the holding of Local Government Elections in 2013. “The issue of the laxity of the President, in violation of the provisions of the Guyana Constitution, in not assenting to Legislation passed by the National Assembly, was also discussed,” the statement said.
