The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) team, during a meeting last Wednesday with members of the Guyana Public Service Cooperative Credit Union (GPSCCU), emphasised the need for readiness to meet the demands of the Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) legislation.
This is according to GPSCCU’s Secretary/Manager Trevor Benn, who also told Stabroek News that he was satisfied with the outcome of the meeting.
“They expected us to be in readiness in relation to the law,” he said, when asked about what transpired during the meeting. Noting that a credit union is not usually deemed a high risk organisation, he said that the FATF officials pressed upon the union’s representatives that they needed to be ready with respect to the law.
Asked about some of the questions asked, he said that the officials “wanted to have a feel of the operations of the credit union…and to determine whether we are high risk or low risk.”
He said that they did not indicate any need for a follow up visit.
Meanwhile, a source explained that the FATF officials were informed that monies were received by way of deductions from members’ salaries or pensions and by payment over the counter.
The source stated that the officials asked whether the credit union was involved in any enterprise which handles large sums of money. The source expressed the view that the credit unions do not fall within the FATF framework because they do not collect large amounts of cash at a time.
Stabroek News was told that it was indicated to the officials that if any members come with large amounts of money, the procedure is management is immediately informed. Such a situation, the source said, has never occurred at the credit union. The source indicated that one of the officials said during the meeting that it doesn’t appear that the credit union will be under any money laundering threat.
The FATF team began a two-day visit here last week Wednesday to assess Guyana’s implementation of recommendations.
Shortly after a meeting between the officials and Attorney General (AG) Basil Williams and his AML/CFT compliance group had ended, reporters were told that the on site visit was the next stage of the process after which Guyana would have satisfied all of the recommendations outlined in the FATF action plan for compliance.
Williams said that an on-site visit was necessary so that the team “could come and see whether we have introduced the FATF standards and that we are implementing the recommendations and that there is political commitment to sustain that.”
He said that the team would inspect the various supervisory agencies, reporting agencies and other bodies, such as cambios, money transfer agencies, banks, co-ops and pawn brokers involved in the AML/CFT setup.
On Wednesday, the FATF team also met with the Minister of Finance, the Friendly and Co-op Societies, the Special Organised Crime Unit and the Director of Public Prosecutions. On Thursday, it met with President David Granger, representatives from the Confidential Cambio, Governor Dr. Gobind Ganga and other Bank of Guyana officials, the Guyana Securities Council, Demerara Mutual Life Insurance Company, Guyana Americas Merchant Bank Inc., Republic Bank (Guyana) Ltd and Western Union.
