Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall says that the government has been partnering with multilateral organisations, such as the Organization of American States (OAS), to confront transnational crimes including illegal mining and gold smuggling.
Making this disclosure last week Monday at a press briefing held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, he explained that the partnerships included, “… Training programmes to help us improve our capabilities to detect and investigate and convict in the area of illicit and illegal mining.”
Stabroek News had reported in December that the OAS, with funding from the US Department of State, held a two-day workshop at the Cara Lodge for private and public stakeholders on combatting transnational illegal mining.
According to a statement from the US Embassy, US Ambassador to Guyana Nicole Theriot used that opportunity to laud the United States’ partnership with the “Government of Guyana to address shared security challenges and to build an inclusive criminal justice system in Guyana to better combat crime and illicit trafficking that threaten US national security and destabilise Guyana’s security, posing risks for Guyana’s investment climate.
“It is no secret that transnational criminal organisations (TCOs) exploit Guyana’s rich natural resources, such as its gold reserves, to advance their illicit activities which has negative consequences for Guyana’s economy and development.
“Even more concerning, TCO smuggles precursors – such as mercury, gasoline, and highly polluting chemicals – into Guyana, which can devastate Guyana’s pristine biodiversity and public health. Effectively addressing the transnational nature of the illegal gold trade and its international financing requires regional collaboration from both the public and the private sectors.”
For years, successive governments have failed in their bid to grapple with gold smuggling which is believed to be large scale. There have also been questions about Venezuelan gold being commingled with Guyana’s gold.
In 2012, 476 pounds of gold spirited out of this country were stolen from a Guyanese fishing boat which was docked on the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao. No one was charged.
Meanwhile, Nandlall also noted that gold smuggling was one of the highest money laundering threats in Guyana, which was flagged by the second Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing National Risk Assessment in 2022.
The assessment, which was compiled by the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) National Coordination Committee, had been hailed by the Attorney General.
The overall level of the money laundering threat in Guyana is medium high, due to the significant estimated value of the proceeds of crime generated from predicate offences that have been committed in the country, and the lack of convictions of money laundering over the years, the assessment found.
“The true magnitude of the amount of illegal proceeds these crimes generated was mostly estimated since adequate information was unavailable,” the report stated.
The AML/CFT National Coordination Committee analysed 20 serious offen-ces listed as predicate in the Anti-Money Launder-ing and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act and found that the ones that pose the highest threat in the country are smuggling including gold smuggling, tax evasion, illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substance and fraud.
