The re-tabled Anti Money Laundering/ Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Bill was last night sent to a select committee of Parliament which will begin deliberating in detail on its contents in the new year.
The bill had earlier this year been sent to a select committee but after the two sides failed to reach an agreement, the chairman of the committee, PPP/C MP Gail Teixeira closed the committee’s work and presented a PPP/C version of the bill to the House.
This was voted down by the opposition with their one-seat majority.
A plenary meeting of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force in The Bahamas in November blacklisted Guyana because of the failure to pass the legislation and this sparked heated recriminations over who was to blame and the likely impact of the blacklisting. CFATF further gave Guyana until May next year to implement the outstanding reforms.
The opposition had argued that the government and Teixeira erred by closing off the work of the first select committee before full agreement could be reached.
