Faced with claims that it was derelict in its duty relating to regulatory oversight which allowed for alleged Ponzi scheme company, Accelerated Capital Firm Inc (ACFI) to bilk locals of over US$20M, Governor of the Bank of Guyana (BoG), Gobin Ganga, yesterday said the company’s activities are outside of its remit.
“In the case of Accelerated Capital Firm Inc, the Bank of Guyana wishes to make pellucid that the purported activities of the said entity do not fall under the remit of the Bank of Guyana. Notwithstanding, the Bank of Guyana has been lending support to the investigative team assigned to address the circumstances surrounding the operations of Accelerated Capital Firm Inc,” Ganga stated.
The BoG Governor fired back at former Guyana Minister of Finance and Jamaica Central Bank Deputy Governor, Asgar Ally, who on Wednesday called on both Ganga and the former Minister of Finance to explain why actions were not taken to protect Guyanese.
In a letter to Stabroek News on Wednesday, Ally said that following the story of how the firm was able to bilk locals out of millions, the BoG should explain its role and dereliction of duty.
“There is now a current investigation of Accelerated Capital Firm Inc. ((ACFI), which had applied for a licence to operate in Guyana and was turned down for good reasons. However, what is unexplained is why this firm was still in financial operation. The question arises that our financial regulator, the Bank of Guyana seems to have done nothing to stop them from operating here. It is clear that there were requirements under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act that they did not fulfil,” Ally wrote.
“Thus the Governor, Bank of Guyana stood by and left the financial sector and depositors highly exposed to fraud as this firm continued operations. I urge as a former Central Banker and Minister of Finance that the regulator (Bank of Guyana) should explain to the public its dereliction of duty and why actions were not taken to protect Guyanese,” he added.
Accelerated Capital Firm Inc Director, Ateeka Ishmael, and Financial Advisor and Trading Operator, Yuri Garcia Dominguez, were taken into police custody last Thursday for questioning amid growing complaints from persons who had subscribed to the scheme and were allegedly swindled out of hundreds of millions.
A release from the BoG last week stated that the company and its principals never deposited anything near the sums it is alleged they collected.
The Bank of Guyana said that ACFI had one bank account with the Bank of Baroda (BoB).
ACFI has no other bank account as its application for a commercial bank account was denied. Also denied was an application to the Guyana Securities Commission (GSC) for a licence to operate.
While the current balance was not revealed, the BoG in a release noted that the highest sum ever retained in the account at one point was $14.6 million. The account has from January to February, 2020, conducted transactions totalling $21 million. This account was closed in April of this year.
Dominguez, a Cuban national who was recently naturalised, had two bank accounts; one with BoB and another with Demerara Bank Limited (DBL). At BoB his highest balance was $200,000 while at DBL it was $2.3 million.
Ganga yesterday said that he has seen many reports concerning his organisation’s role in the matter and wanted to clear the air as to its responsibilities.
“There appears to be some speculation in the media regarding the role of the Bank of Guyana on the current allegedly pyramid scheme. Permit me this opportunity to provide some clarity on this matter. The Bank of Guyana is responsible for the supervision and regulation of all licensed financial institutions under the Financial Institutions Act No. 1 of 1995 (FIA). Further, the FIA governs the operation of ‘banking and financial business’ as defined under section 2 of the said legislation and requires that all such business be licensed. The Governor of the Bank of Guyana under Section 22 (1) (a) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act, No. 13 of 2009 is appointed as the supervisory authority responsible for reporting entities licenced by the Bank of Guyana. Previous press release cited the closure of bank accounts relating to the company and its associates for not satisfying AML/CFT requirements,” he explained.
“In executing its role, the Bank of Guyana requires all licensed financial institutions to ensure due diligence is done when on-boarding new customers. The Bank of Guyana does not set out the terms and conditions surrounding the opening of a bank account. Where a licensed institution detects a suspicious activity, it is required under the AML/CFT Act to report same to the Financial Intelligence Unit, which was done,” he added.
