Dr Clive Thomas

Introduction The world sugar prices for the period 1960 to 2013, which I presented last week, were formed in the ‘free market,’ where the sugar bought and sold is not subject to governmental regulation and control.

This week’s column wraps up my presentation on the long-term situation of the global sugar industry, which as I have argued stands in stark contrast to that of Guyana’s.

Examining the last century or so of the industrial life cycle of Guyana’s sugar industry, it is observed that the period up to the late 1960s and early 1970s marked the phase of its maturity.

Introduction   As testimony to the present dire state of Guyana’s sugar industry and its continued importance to the socioeconomic, political, and cultural life of the country, last week I began a third series of columns on this topic in the space of only three years.

Tipping point Alarmed at the crisis state of the sugar industry in 2011, I devoted more than a score of Sunday columns in that year (May 29 to October 16) to its discussion and drew attention to the crying need for radical reform and restructuring.

Introduction Last week I drew readers’ attention to the far more potent threat facing tax evaders and money launderers operating in and through Guyana, than the activities of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and its regional counterpart, the Caribbean Financial Task Force (CFATF).

Introduction   If perchance any reader might have had doubts about the serious intent of the United States as it opens a new front against tax evasion and money laundering, under its Foreign Account Tax Compli-ance Act, 2010 (FATCA), he or she should ponder the pointed remarks made by a Senior United States Treasury official (Robert Stark) on September 2013: “Offshore tax evasion is a significant contributor to the tax gap.”

Introduction In my current series of Sunday columns on countering money laundering and the risks of terrorist financing and proliferation I have consistently advanced what I consider to be the fundamental view that the financial crime of tax evasion is the primary driver of money laundering.

Introduction As indicated last week that column was prompted by the seemingly orchestrated public statements by private organizations, steps being taken by the US Treasury against tax evasion in the region as well as diplomatic and other pressures brought to bear on the parliamentary “opposition.”

Well-orchestrated As stated last Sunday it was my intention to bring the series of columns on money laundering to an end.

Conclusion   This week’s column indicates the remaining markers that go along with the strategic guideposts provided earlier for a way forward in dealing with Guyana’s situation in regard to money laundering, the financing of terrorism and proliferation.

The Schedule below summarizes the key features of the strategic guideposts for a way forward presented in the two previous columns.

This week I shall address the two remaining strategic guideposts in designing a road map for the way forward in dealing with money laundering and related challenges in Guyana.   Guidepost 3: Dimensionality   Fully aware that the Special Select Committee might have focused primarily on the legislative amendments before it, I urge Members however to recognise that the reform of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 cannot be reduced to a task of legal drafting.

Introduction For the remaining columns in this series on money laundering in Guyana, I shall concentrate on portraying a strategic road map for the way ahead, in light of the current impasse in Guyana’s relations with the Caribbean Financial Action Force (CFATF).

Last week’s column carried a brief description of the current situation of Guyana in regard to the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF).

Introduction In the previous two columns the prevailing architecture of global anti money-laundering regulation under the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) was introduced by way of the seven major groupings of the targeted areas within which this structure is organized.

Introduction Last week’s column provided a brief synopsis of the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) international standard.

International standards As indicated in last week’s column, the original publication of the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) Forty Recommen-dations took place in 1990.

Introduction As I continue the series on money laundering and looking back on last week’s column, perhaps the main original contribution so far has been putting forward the thesis that there have been three principal drivers pushing money laundering and related concerns to the level of the massive global threat these now represent.

OFCs and tax havens The origins of money-laundering as a global phenomenon are closely tied to the international spread of offshore financial centres (OFCs) and the opportunities these provide for the spread of tax avoidance and evasion; the latter being of course a criminal offence.