Attorney General Anil Nandlall SC has asked the Regional Security System’s (RSS) Asset Recovery Unit (ARU) to assist in high-profile money laundering cases.
This was disclosed yesterday in a release from the Attorney General’s Chambers on the outcome of a visit here by the Barbados-based RSS which Guyana joined in September last year.
The release said that the Attorney General requested the RSS ARU to aid the local Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) in ”certain high-profile ongoing investigations of money laundering”. While in Guyana the RSS has met with the FIU, SOCU and the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit. Today, the RSS is expected to meet with the Director of Public Prosecutions.
No further information was availed in the release yesterday on the investigations but Georgetown has come under growing pressure to show evidence of action against money laundering. Days ago, SOCU announced the arrest of a Herstelling, East Bank Demerara family over the laundering of $4.1b. It was disclosed by SOCU that money was funnelled to 22 companies in China but there has been no word from the authorities on whether this aspect of the probe is being pursued here and with Beijing.
The RSS is also advising on Guyana’s extant Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) law after identifying gaps.
Nandlall met yesterday with the visiting RSS delegation which comprised Kisha Sutherland, Director (ag); Randy Alexander, Senior Financial Investiga-tor and Chanika Carring-ton, Senior Legal advisor. Accompanying the Attor-ney General in the meeting were Joann Bond, Deputy Chief Parliamentary Coun-sel, and Romel St. Hill, AML/CFT Officer attached to the Attorney General’s Chambers.
The release said that the visiting team extended its expertise to Guyana’s AML/CFT architecture with specific emphasis on training, capacity building and practical and technical guidance in investigating, detecting and prosecuting AML/CFT-type offences including asset recovery, possessing, seizing and forfeiting proceeds from crime.
“The team informed the Hon. Attorney General that they have crafted a model legislation which has widely influenced AML/CFT legislation and approaches in the Caribbean region. In this regard, the team indicated that they have done a comparative analysis between Guyana’s existing legislative framework and the model legislation, and have flagged gaps in Guyanese legislation. They have also pointed out that the model legislation has a comprehensive regime dealing with both civil and criminal forfeiture which Guyana should adopt”, the release said.
Noting that Guyana is scheduled for mutual evaluation later this year, Nandlall was quoted in the press release as saying: “Currently we are drafting legislation which we are to enact speedily before the commencement of our mutual evaluation later this year. Your intervention, therefore, is not only most welcomed but it could not have been better timed. Certainly, we will accept your guidance and incorporate it in our legislative and other endeavours. We will also take advantage of your offer for capacity building at every level including at the investigative, prosecuting and adjudicative levels. We are prepared to partner with you in organising workshops to build capacity in the important agencies which form part of our AML/CFT infrastructure”.
Guyana signed on with the RSS in March 2022 at the 33rd Inter-sessional meeting of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads in Belize and the Instrument of Accession for the Treaty Establishing the RSS, making Guyana a member of the regional body was signed in September 2022. Guyana is also part of the RSS Asset Recovery Inter-Agency Network of the Caribbean (ARIN-CARIB) eight-member steering group that administers that operational arm.
The release said that the RSS ARU is a regional unit set up to combat serious organised crime in the Caribbean common law jurisdictions, through partnership and the robust application of proceeds of crime and money laundering legislation. The release added that this Unit is seen as the centre of excellence in the Eastern Caribbean in combatting serious organized crime, money laundering and the recovery of criminal assets. It began operating in November 2015, taking over from the Eastern Caribbean Financial Investigations Advisory Team (ECFIAT) and Caribbean Criminal Assets Recovery Programme (CCARP).
Based in Barbados, it covers the eight RSS Member States: Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia and St Vincent & the Grenadines. The team also provides wider regional support to key transit countries such as Trinidad and Tobago and the overseas territories of the United Kingdom.
