This column had carried several articles on Guyana’s efforts to address the issue of anti-money laundering and the prevention of the financing of terrorism. In the light of the latest amendment to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act 2009, I have decided to provide a consolidation of Guyana’s efforts to date, which I hope readers will find interesting.
In 2002, Guyana became a member of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) which is the regional body of the Financial Action Task Force (CATF), headquartered in Paris, France. CATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combatting money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system. It has developed a series of recommendations that are recognised as international standards for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
CFATF’s first evaluation report issued in October 2006 highlighted the absence of legislation on money laundering. In response, the Government tabled draft legislation in the National Assembly in January 2007. The Assembly referred it to the Select Committee, and it took more than two years for the legislation to be approved in the form of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act 2009.