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.”
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.
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).
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.
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.
Introduction
At this point of the ongoing discussion of the money-laundering situation in Guyana, readers would have come to realize that they cannot expect to form an intelligent appreciation of this issue, and as a result the several serious challenges which the country presently faces, without, at the very least, a rudimentary appreciation of the basic contextual issues surrounding this phenomenon.
Introduction
This week’s column provides a highly condensed, yet hopefully accurate portrayal of the origins of money laundering, which as we shall observe is a uniquely modern phenomenon.
Introduction
In my recent Sunday Stabroek columns I have sought thus far to provide a background for assessing the money laundering situation in Guyana, with specific regard to examining its local, regional, and international regulatory regimes.
Last week the question was tackled: what is money laundering? This week we look at the techniques and circumstances, which give it traction in Guyana and the wider Caricom region.
Introduction
The two topics that have dominated national as well as parliamentary debates on Guyana’s political economy in recent months are, namely, the future of the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project and Guyana’s money-laundering legislation in light of its regional and global regulatory obligations.
Conclusion
The last topic left to be considered in this rather extended appraisal of the management of Guyana’s public investment programme is its third and fourth phases, namely, project management and implementation and the conduct of ex-post evaluation audits of projects.
