Attorney General & Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC, with the two officials from the Regional Security System Asset Recovery Unit and a staff at the AG Chamber
Ranks of the Guyana Defence Force’s (GDF) Coast Guard are currently undergoing a two-day training session on asset recovery.
The training is being conducted by the Regional Security System Asset Recovery Unit (RSS-ARU), in association with its Maritime Unit, from August 17-18, 2023.
During the two-day training, the focus is being placed on financial investigations including virtual assets, proceeds of crime/money laundering investigations and prosecutions, asset recovery investigations and prosecutions focusing on the preparation of cases and coordination of resources towards building successful cases. The topics will also include financial investigative orders, search, seizure and investigation of virtual assets, money laundering prosecutions, forfeiture and asset management.
The ongoing training exercise targeted a mixture of law enforcement and criminal justice practitioners focusing on financial investigations and the asset recovery cycle from cradle to grave.
The RSS-ARU team will return to Guyana in October 2023 to provide training for Judges and Magistrates. In a separate dedicated exercise, they will also provide training for law enforcement officials across several State sectors, officers of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), and State prosecutors.
Meanwhile, during their visit to Guyana, the RSS-ARU team paid a courtesy call to Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Mohabir Anil Nandlall, SC, at his Carmichael Street, Georgetown, office.
The RSS-ARU team consisted of its Director, Kisha Sutherland, and Legal Advisor, Chanika Carrington. Also present at the meeting was AML/CFT Officer of the Attorney General’s Chambers and Ministry of Legal Affairs, Rommel St Hill.
Wednesday’s meeting saw discussions being held on matters relating to asset recovery and civil forfeiture, asset management, the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force’s (CFATF) upcoming 4th Round Mutual Evaluation of Guyana and international cooperation.
The RSS expressed a willingness to offer technical support to Guyana as it prepares for this important assessment in September 2023.
In preparation for this review, the Guyana Government moved to update the local Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act as well as several other areas which had deficiencies that were flagged by CFATF.
The amended Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act was passed in the National Assembly. The Bill seeks to modify the act to meet the best-practiced standards of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and improve the abilities and powers of law enforcement in combatting money laundering, and terrorism and proliferation financing.
Countries are required to periodically update their AML/CFT laws by implementing recommendations from these international regulatory bodies such as FATF.
This AML/CFT amendment was one of the Bills tabled in Parliament that are central to Guyana’s upcoming CFATF assessment.
The other Bill is the Guyana Compliance Commission Bill of 2023, which allows for the provision of adequate supervision to designated non-financial businesses or professions and non-bank financial institutions, for compliance with obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act.
Another area where Guyana’s AML/CFT laws had deficiencies was the unregulated real estate sector.
This was changed with the passage of the Real Estate Agents and Brokers Bill, which sought to regulate the functions and operations of real estate agents and agency.
