Attorney General, Anil Nandlall SC, says that he does not believe that the United States’ sanctions on the Mohameds and Permanent Secretary Mae Toussaint Jr. Thomas, will have negative repercussions for Guyana’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) image.
And firing back at chartered accountant, Christopher Ram, who opined in yesterday’s Stabroek News that the US sanctions pose grave risks to the country and have shattered its anti-money laundering reputation, Nandlall said that Ram has not shown on what basis he came to his conclusions but instead has cast his own self-determined judgement.
“On what basis has Mr. Ram concluded this? I don’t think the world operates like that. His reaction is a knee-jerk one,” Nandlall said last evening in response to the Stabroek News after addressing the issue on his ‘Issues in the News’ programne on his Facebook Page.
“It is rather erratic to conclude that a singular business enterprise, in one singular area of activity, running into the problems with the United States, can shatter the entire financial system and anti-laundering structure of Guyana. Guyana’s economy and financial system is diversified and expansive,” he added.
In an invited comment to Stabroek News on last Tuesday’s announcement by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Ram said that it will tarnish the reputation of the country, potentially scaring away both international and domestic investors.
A well-known commentator who has had a long-running oil and gas column in Stabroek News, Ram said that the sanctions on Nazar Mohamed and Azruddin Mohamed, who he described as two high-profile members of the business community operating in the gold, quarrying and non-bank Cambio sector, and Mae Toussaint Jr. Thomas, a top public servant/ruling Party executive have “grave implications for the Government and the country which can suffer serious reputational damage.”
Ambassador to Guyana, Nicole Theriot subsequently told the Guyana media that such sanctions are reserved for “very serious crimes” and referred to the Russian financing of the war on Ukraine as a parallel. He pointed out that the Ambassador added that there was a preponderance of evidence gathered by her government over two and a half years.
“In the past, even in the face of compelling accusations, this administration’s dismissive response is ‘show us the proof,’ rather than carry out its own serious investigations. On this occasion, the government acted almost immediately: issuing a statement, sending the PPP executive member on leave and cancelling the Cambio licence of the Mohameds. And then asks the US authorities to provide information to the Government of Guyana and its tax authorities. The US Government will have to consider whether it can trust this government with maintaining the confidentiality of such information,” Ram stated.
He argued that the country’s stellar reputation as compliant with the Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act is “now shattered while the banking and financial system is exposed. It is sad to see the difficulties the individual has to open a simple bank account and the small company to prove beneficial ownership while others avoid the system completely.”
Ram said that the announcement on Tuesday will tarnish the reputation of the country, “potentially scaring away both international and domestic investors, threatening the stability of the economy and the Guyana dollar, giving impetus to capital flight, loss of confidence in the economy and all the regulators, and validation that corruption is far greater than we are prepared to admit.”
Nandlall however boasted that Guyana’s AML architecture is stellar and evidence of this is a “clean bill of health” by the AML/CFT regional regulatory body, the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF).
“Guyana just went through a test, an evaluation exercise by the internationally authorised agency for this region, that is the CFATF, and Guyana‘s financial system and AML/CFT architecture acquitted itself well after a two-year gruelling and interrogative scrutiny and detailed examination. Which included a two-day face-to-face engagement where 200 experts scrutinized our legislation, our policies, our structures, our commitment, and our effectiveness. We were questioned for two days, at the end of the process, we received a clean bill of health, our AML/CFT received a clean bill of health. That is our current status as certified by the authorized regulatory agency for this region.”
To Ram, he said that both his opinion and that of the Opposition APNU+AFC are without basis.
“These disclosures have come subsequently and the pronouncement that it will shatter Guyana’s AML/CFT credentials is precipitous, premature and without basis.”
Moreover, Nandlall asserted that “Guyana continues to demonstrate its will and its commitment to combat organized crimes and protecting its financial system by immediately responding to the disclosures made by the United States.”
He pointed out that government, through the Minister of Finance, wrote to the Treasury Department of the US and that the Guyana Revenue Authority also wrote to the US Internal Revenue Service, requesting evidence and information that they have in their possession that can assist Guyana in conducting a probe into those allegations.
“Too, the Central Bank has responded by terminating the Cambio licence issued to entity impugned,” the Attorney General added.
