After a police background check barred the top candidate, Scotia Bank Manager Matthew Edward Hugh Langevine, the second in line, was given the nod by the Parliamentary Committee of Appoint-ments to be the next Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
Financial Director of Guyana Telephone Telegraph Abiose Thomas is tipped to be his deputy.
According to the Committee’s report, laid over in the National Assembly yesterday, eight persons were interviewed for the position and two were decided unanimously as the top candidates. It was agreed that the Commissioner of Police would execute a background check on the top ranked candidate and the named deputy.
“At the twelfth meeting of the Commit-tee held on June 30, 2016, members received the response of the Commis-sioner of Police and decided that the top ranked candidate was no longer eligible for consideration for appointment of the Director of the FIU,” the report said.
The person was not named, but the report stated that by consensus it was decided that Langevine be given the position.
As it relates to Thomas, the report said that nine persons were initially interviewed and later seven of those were further interviewed by the committee and three were short-listed.
“There were differences of views as the opposition members felt that the current legal adviser of the FIU was the candidate who had the highest scores and the highest number of nominations as well as the most experience in the AML/CFT framework and should be given the position. Whilst the government members were supportive of Mr Abiose Thomas and were of the view that his experience should merit him being given the position. The matter was eventually put to the vote and the nomination of Mr Abiose Thomas received five votes and the nomination of Ms. Alicia Williams received four votes,” the report said.
Yesterday Chairman of the Committee, Minister of Public Health Dr George Norton, laid its report in the National Assembly and it was expected to be debated later in the evening even though PPP’s Chief Whip Gail Teixeira objected to this being done on the grounds that members had not seen a copy of the report or the motion for it to be debated.
According to Teixeira, while the opposition has no objection to debating the report, the motion would have to come to the House which is the practice. She said they were in the committee up to last week Wednesday but they were given no notice or copy of a motion or the report and “now we are now seeing the report as amended and there is no motion and I find Sir, that this is highly irregular. I remember in this same House committee reports had to wait at least a day before it came into this House.
“We will debate anything you put before us but we are not going to be silenced that this manner of doing business is unacceptable. We finished on Wednesday, the report and motion I understand [were] finished on Friday.” She asked, “Why didn’t we, as members of this House, both sides, get the motion and the report electronically and or hard copy to our houses, which has happened before and we have accepted?”
In response, Government Chief Whip Amna Ally said it was not intentional for the motion not to come to the House but there was “a little problem with a staff member’s medical problem and apart from that I think all members of the committee were present, they agreed with the motion. The chairman of the committee signed the motion but unfortunately it was not circulated so that is an explanation really.”
Terms and conditions
Meanwhile, according to the report the Committee noted that section 5(4) of the AMLCFT (Amendment) Act 2015 assigned to it the responsibility of setting the terms and conditions of employment. As such it agreed that the contracts would be of three years duration in keeping with the section 7A(8) of the Act and the offer would be based on the salaries, allowances and benefits offered to the former Director and Deputy Director of the FIU.
Following their selections by the Committee it was agreed that the Commissioner of Police would be written to seeking background information on both men and that their current places of employment should also be written to requesting any relevant information. The reports submitted by the Commissioner of Police and their current employers were reviewed by the members on July 13, and the candidates were information of their selections and they accepted same.
In the meantime, the Committee has commenced the process for selection of an accountant and attorney-at-law which will be brought to the attention of the National Assembly in the near future.
Apart from Dr Norton those also sitting on the Committee include Ally, Ministers of Public Infrastructure David Patterson and Annette Ferguson and Minister of Public Telecommunications Catherine Hughes. On the opposition side are Teixeira, Bishop Juan Edgill, Ganga Persaud and Bhagmattie Veerasammy.
The FIU is the entity tied directly to oversight of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) and is required to be operational under the anti-money laundering legislation. It has been without a head since the end of last year after its then director Paul Geer’s contract expired. The unit is a critical component of the anti-money laundering legislation and the government has been criticised for its failure to ensure that a director is appointed and that the unit becomes fully operational. Compliance with international standards for anti-money laundering legislation has seen years of bickering between the two sides of Parliament. Guyana continues to be on a Financial Action Taskforce watch list to ensure full compliance.
