Consultations on the draft State Assets Recovery Bill 2016 will be done countrywide before it is finalized and taken to the National Assembly for passage, Minister of State Joseph Harmon said on Thursday.
Given that Parliament is going into recess on August 10, Harmon could not say definitively when the finalized Bill would reach the National Assembly. Parliament is expected out of recess sometime in September.
Responding to questions during a post-Cabinet press briefing he said that the bulk of the work on the draft legislation has been completed.
“The consultations will be all across the country.
There will be wide consultations,” he said adding that this has been the format when government is introducing any new legislation. He said the views of stakeholders will be taken into account before a Bill is finalized to be taken to the National Assembly.
“That kind of consultation cannot be completed within six days to get it before the National Assembly before the 10th that would not happen,” he said.
So far there has been public notification for one consultation session.
All stakeholders are invited to participate in a public consultation on the draft bill on Thursday. The session will be held at the Savannah Suite of the Pegasus Hotel beginning at 9 am.
An advertisement which has been appearing in the Stabroek News for the past week said that written comments on the Bill may be submitted to the Chief Parliamentary Counsel either via email: draftingconsultations.mla@gmail. com or post/hand delivery: Attorney General’s Chambers and Ministry of Legal Affairs, 95 Carmichael Street, North Cummings-burg, Georgetown.
The draft Bill envisages non-conviction based, civil recoveries of property over $10 million with a 12-year limitation period and wide powers will be available to the agency to be set up under the law to gather information.
