President Donald Ramotar yesterday affirmed his position that the Anti-Money Laundering/Coun-tering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) (Amendment) Bill should be passed in its current form and “forthwith.”
In a letter in response to one written to him, Leader of the Opposition David Granger and AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan by former chairman of Demerara Distillers Ltd Yesu Persaud on Friday, the President agreed with Persaud that there should be no political conditionalities attached to the bill’s passage, noting the country’s responsibility to comply with international norms.
Ramotar noted that the bill in its current form “is sufficient to comply with the minimum standards of the Caribbean Action Task Force and the Financial Action Task Force.”
Persaud, in his letter, had suggested areas where government and the opposition parties might find compromise and Ramotar responded that government is prepared to compromise on the amendments proposed by APNU. He said, “…indeed, we have laid in the Special Select Commit-tee counter amendments. These counter amendments proposed are designed and intended to address the major concerns raised by… APNU in relation to the strengthening [of] the governance architecture of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in the legislative regime, while at the same time insulating it from political influence and indeed, any form of politicization, in order to maintain its independence and functional autonomy .”
Ramotar also agreed with Persaud’s suggestion that an independent authority appointed on professional and technical merit could be responsible for the appointment of the FIU’s director. However, he wrote, “this authority shall comprise… heads of agencies who have a role and responsibility in relation to the combating of money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism. We propose that the Commissioner of Police, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Governor of the Central Bank, the Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority, the Solicitor General, the Head of CANU, the Registrar of Deeds and Companies and a representative from the Private Sector Commission in the area of banking and commerce….” He said these persons should comprise the authority, “appointed by the Minister of Finance.”
The President added that in the process cited above, “subjectivity and discretion are wholly removed from the appointment process and almost all those persons are statutory office holders. I believe that this formulation addresses the conceptual concern of …APNU in terms of strengthening the governance infrastructure in the law while at the same time, removing the process from the realm of politics.”
Persaud wrote too that contrary to the proposal by APNU that police be given the mandate to seize sums in excess of $10 million suspected to be derived from illegal activity, such seizures should only be done at points of exit and entry of the border as already specified under the current AML/CFT Act of 2009.
Ramotar concurred that “the current law requires no change on this issue and CFATF did not recommend any in relation to this matter. Like you, I am firm in my belief that we must root out from our society the use of proceeds derived from criminal activities.”
Persaud’s letter notwithstanding, APNU has been steadfast in its determination to have its amendments added to the principal Act. In fact, during a press conference on Friday, Granger lauded the fact that Chief Parliamen-tary Council Cecil Dhurjon had completed the draft of APNU’s amendments, but said that more work lies ahead.
The committee on the bill will meet again later this month to discuss the amendments and Granger chastised the government for setting the meeting on a date so far away.
Meanwhile, Granger also reiterated that APNU is prepared to withhold support for the passage of the Bill in the National Assembly, even if the amendments gain traction, if Ramotar refuses to commit to a mechanism to give his assent to several bills passed with the opposition’s majority last year.
Ramotar has refused to assent to the bills, stating that their content is unconstitutional.
The AFC, meantime, has tied its support for the AML/CFT bill to the government setting up the long-stalled Public Procurement Commission.
Guyana has already been blacklisted by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force for missing several deadlines last year. It potentially faces being blacklisted by the international umbrella body, the Financial Action Task Force. This could potentially lead to very stringent financial sanctions.
In recent weeks the government has stepped up a campaign to bring pressure to bear on the opposition to acquiesce to the passage of the bill. Ramotar himself addressed a stakeholders’ conference on Thursday at the Liliendaal International Conference Centre. The opposition has however said that these steps are a waste of time as compromise discussions should be taking place at the level of the select committee and in parliament.
