The parliamentary committee preparing the bill to reform the anti-money laundering law has concluded its scrutiny of amendments proposed by main opposition APNU and will now move on to consider the counter amendments proposed by Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall.
The committee completed its scrutiny of the opposition coalition’s amendments during a meeting on Wednesday. It is now left to Chief Parliamentary Counsel Cecil Dhurjon to adjust the drafted proposed amendments to reflect the product of discussions from the meeting.
APNU MP and financial spokesperson Carl Greenidge told this newspaper on Wednesday he thought it regrettable that the committee must now scrutinise Nandlall’s proposals in light of progress made. However, he said that APNU will “do what it has to do” when the time comes to consider Nandlall’s proposals.
It should be noted that Nandlall’s amendments, though different in some parts, is mostly similar to the opposition’s own amendments.
The committee has not yet decided when it will meet again, but its members remain cognizant of an approaching deadline. A week ago officials from the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) visited Guyana to explain to stakeholders the scale of the fallout that will ensue if Guyana fails to pass the amendment bill by May 29th, when the regional grouping will hold a plenary.
Even if the committee finishes its work early, APNU and the AFC have demanded concessions before they vote for the bill’s passage in the National Assembly, including, the enactment of bills passed with the opposition majority but not assented to by the President as well as the set-up of the Public Procurement Commission.