The anti-money laundering bill will have a second chance in a select committee of parliament after the opposition made it clear on Thursday night that it would be defeated if the government put it to a vote.
This position was held by the opposition unflinchingly despite several warning by top government officials in Parliament that the absence of the Anti-Money Laundering/ Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) (Amendment) Bill is creating a stream of financial problems for citizens of the country
A meeting to appoint the members of the select committee was held immediately after Thursday night’s sitting which ended a few minutes before midnight, and the committee is expected to commence its work after the House exits its Christmas recess on January 14, 2014.
The decision came at the end of explanations by opposition Members of Parliament as to why the bill, if it is allowed to be read for the second time, should be sent back to a select committee, and arguments by the government side on why the legislation should be passed as soon as possible, even if it is recommitted to a select committee.
Noting that Guyana has already missed three deadlines set by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) – in May, August and November – to pass the AML/CFT bill, Legal Affairs Minister and Attorney General Anil Nandlall said “thus far we have defaulted badly, in compliance to the regulations.”
Although the government did not oppose sending the bill to a committee when the vote was put, the bill came somewhat close to being tossed out of the House, as it was in November 7th 2013. It was Finance Minister Ashni Singh who nearly caused this, arguing during his presentation that he believed the bill was too important to be sent back to a select committee.
Picking at the stance taken by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) that the coalition is desirous of making further amendments to the bill, Singh said that the members of the coalition had ten months to do so and have failed to present a single recommendation of their own. He also challenged them to tell the public what their recommendations are.
Singh said that he believed that the bill should not be sent back to a select committee, but “be passed tonight.” This remark was greeted with heckles by Alliance for Change (MP) Moses Nagamootoo who yelled “well put the thing nah man? Put it.” Nagamootoo’s heckling was then drowned out by his fellow opposition members, who too tossed disapproving comments at Singh’s suggestion.
But it was APNU MP Joseph Harmon who, although he was not scheduled to speak on the AML/CFT Amendment Bill who rose to officially tell the National Assembly that if Singh is adamant that the bill not be sent back to the select committee the result may not be one that the government favours.
“If the Minister of Finance wants to take it to a vote then let’s do so”, he said.
Eventually, the bill was sent back to a select committee, but not before the government and opposition rehashed the arguments they have been using to support their positions on the bill all year.
Nandlall said that he knows for a fact, that the non-passage of the bill has negatively impacted Guyana in serious ways. He said that he knows that remittances have decreased drastically; there is a paucity of foreign currency in Guyana’s banks; the relationships between international commercial entities and their partners in Guyana have become stricter; and the commercial bank of Trinidad and Tobago and several other central banks have issued an advisory on Guyana.
These are just some of the reasons, he lectured, why the government is not fond of the idea of sending the bill back to a select committee. He nevertheless said that government is willing to go along with such a move once the opposition gives a commitment to work quickly, especially in light of CFATF’s next Plenary in May, and the fact that the umbrella Financial Action Task Force will be having its own meeting in February, and can decide to assess Guyana then.
He also said that the opposition – APNU and the Alliance for Change (AFC) – must not change any of the bill’s clauses without good reason as it has been approved by the CFATF.
APNU MP Carl Greenidge, when he rose to speak, rebuffed all of Nandlall’s arguments.
In relation to the reduction of remittances he accused the minister of scaremongering.
Greenidge said that the reduction of remittances alluded to by Nandlall is a result of the adverse economic conditions which obtain in the United States and other countries from which Guyanese receive remittances.
He also argued that it was improper for Nandlall to suggest that Parliament, an independent national institution of a sovereign state, should not change legislation that has been approved by an external entity.
And, whereas Nandlall said that most of the emphasis needs to be placed in implementing more legislation to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism, Greenidge argued that Guyana’s failure to enforce the laws which already exist under the present AML/CFT Act is the main reason the country is in the position it is in right now. He said that even CFATF has pointed to the fact that Guyana has not prosecuted a single case under the laws, and that several institutions which are pertinent to the enforcement of AML/CFT laws are less than adequate.
A typical example, he reiterated, is the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) which is understaffed, and only recently produced two reports though it has been in existence for many years. And, he said, the functioning of these institutions is further compromised since it is the president who still has the mandate to appoint their heads. This, he said, creates an avenue through which partiality can creep into the institutions and affect the decisions they make.
Until the institutions which are responsible for enforcement are improved, he argued, there will always be a gap between implemented legislation and enforcement.
The solutions to these problems, he said, can be arrived at in the select committee, as stakeholders make their recommendations. He then slammed the government for bringing the committee to an end prematurely, and said that all of these problems could have been remedied if the committee continued its work.
Government Chief Whip Gail Teixeira, who as chairman had brought the work of the earlier committee to an end, said that the opposition parties were not serious about the bill since they were lax in their attendance at the committee meetings. She further said she thought her decision to close the committee’s work and bring the bill back to the House to be justified.
Teixeira told the House that as a result of the opposition parties’ refusal to pass the bill various sections of society, including banks and insurance companies, are complaining that it has become more difficult for them to do business. She spoke about an unnamed pensioner in the U.S. who has been warned that her account will be closed if she continues to carry out transactions with Guyana.
In addition, she said that institutions in several countries, including St Kitts, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada and Jamaica have issued advisories of caution against Guyana.
By the time all of the speakers concluded their presentations their positions were clear. The opposition parties were of the view that the bill would only be read for the second time if it was sent to a select committee, and even then, AFC Leader and MP Khemraj Ramjattan maintained that the AFC will not approve the bill unless the Public Procurement Commission is constituted and given sufficient funds to operate.
Meanwhile the government mostly said it was willing to agree to the bill going to the select committee, but urged the opposition parties that once this is done it is imperative that the work be completed before the end of next month.
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. CFATF further gave Guyana until May next year to implement the outstanding reforms.
