Several previously defeated bills, including the Anti-Money Laundering/Coun-tering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) (Amendment) Bill and the Firearms (Amendment) Bill were re-introduced to the National Assembly yesterday afternoon.
They, along with the Evidence (Amendment) Bill and the Summary Jurisdiction Offences (Amendment) Bill, were brought back for a first reading by Attorney General Anil Nandlall.
The AML/CFT (Amend-ment) Bill, brought to the National Assembly earlier this year by Nandlall, was defeated in November by the combined voting power of the opposition – the Alliance for Change (AFC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU). After the Bill’s defeat, Government hinted that it would be the opposition parties’ responsibility to bring the Bill back, while the opposition had said that the responsibility belonged to the government.
As a result of the failure to meet the November deadline, Guyana, during a plenary by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) last month in The Bahamas, was found insufficiently compliant by the body which called on its members to take measures to protect themselves from any risk from Guyana.
Guyana’s initial deadline to take sufficient measures against money laundering and the financing of terrorism was May 26th. Failure to pass the legislation by this time caused Guyana to miss the deadline and another deadline was missed in August.
CFATF following the Bahamas meeting decided that Guyana would be advised to address its anti-money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism deficiencies by May 2014. However, the Financial Action Task Force, of which the CFATF is an affiliate, will have its next Plenary Meeting in February 2014, and at that meeting, on its own accord and independent of CFATF, it can select Guyana for its own review.
The Firearms (Amend-ment) Bill, in the name of Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee was also brought back. In March, when Rohee brought the Bill to the House it was defeated by the combined opposition’s superior numbers.
The combined opposition’s justification for voting against the Bill was that it had been brought by a Minister in whom they have no confidence.
