A candidate has been identified to serve as the Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Attorney-General Basil Williams revealed on Friday.
Williams, at a press conference, confirmed that a candidate had been selected by the National Assembly’s Appointments Committee and its recommendation would be voted on at the next sitting of the House.
He also disclosed that interviews of the applicants for the post of Deputy Director have also been concluded and the process continues for the attorney and accountant for the Unit.
The FIU is a critical component of the anti-money laundering legislation and the government has been criticised for its failure to ensure that a Director is appointed and that the Unit becomes fully operational.
Asked about the identity and particulars of the Director-designate, Williams said, “I don’t want to steal the thunder of the Parliamentary Appointments Committee. You know that person would have to go to the floor of the Assembly for ratification.”
Pressed for information, Williams did not offer much. He said the Appointments Committee is working. “A Director has been identified and at the next sitting of Parliament we hope to have that Director …and the Deputy Director and the other two before the House for ratification and or confirmation and that is by a simple majority,” he said.
Reading from a prepared statement, the Attorney General said that on taking the helm of government, the APNU+AFC administration inherited the FIU with “basically two operatives—a Director and a legal adviser.”
He stated that by virtue of Section 8 of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act of 2009, the Director of the FIU was appointed by the Minister of Finance and could only be removed from office by the President of Guyana.
“APNU+AFC, while in opposition, recognising that the Director was a virtual one man FIU and had no security of tenure, proposed recommendations to build the capacity of the FIU and provide security of tenure for a Director, Deputy Director, Attorney-at-Law and Accountant,” he added.
Williams said that by virtue of Section 5 of the AML/CFT (Amendment) Act of 2015, the original Act was amended to provide for these four office holders to be appointed by a simple majority of the National Assembly on the recommendation of the Parliamentary Committee on Appointments.
He pointed out that these officers could only be removed by the same process.
According to Williams, provision was also made in the amended law for a Committee of Management comprising the same four officers and managers of the FIU.
Provision, he said, was also made for the appointment by the Director of personnel trained in financial investigation and other employees considered necessary.
Williams said that the Amendment Act of 2015 was assented to by President David Granger on July 10, 2015, after being passed by the APNU+AFC government. He said that the contract for the former FIU Director expired in December, 2015, and was not renewed and the Parliamentary Appointments Committee was constituted after being “delayed a long time by the refusal of the PPP/C opposition to take up their seats in Parliament.”
It was stated that the AML/CFT Authority is also being addressed.
According to Williams, the work of the FIU is continuing amidst the capacity building process and he noted that “the contention that it is headless and dysfunctional is spurious.
“It is difficult to see CFATF or FATF sanctioning Guyana because the new government is recognising the FIU in the interests of transparency and accountability.”
