Guyana would soon be able to exit the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) after officials from FATF carry out an onsite visit here.
Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Basil Williams
Attorney General (AG) and Legal Affairs Minister Basil Williams, on Tuesday assured that Guyana is poised to be released from the grips of the financial watchdogs since it has already met the core recommendations set out by those bodies.
Speaking to journalists at his office, the Attorney General further added that, had the country not been referred under the previous People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government, it could have exited a long time now.
“Having met the core recommendations for CFATF, we would have been able to exit, but the fact that Guyana had been referred under the previous Government to the FATF process, after being subjected to three public statements and still not having corrected or implemented the recommendations. So it’s obvious we cannot exit CFATF until we exit FATF and that is why we are here because we have satisfied all those recommendations in CFATF and that is why we were able to have them do the onsite visit,” he told journalists.
That onsite visit to Guyana by FATF’s five-member team will be conducted on September 14 and 15.
Williams continued, “With the onsite visit, FATF will be looking to see if the reforms contained in the agreed action plan between Guyana and FATF, if those reforms have been introduced, implemented and sustained, and if there is political commitment to sustain it.”
The AG said that once the team is satisfied, then Government, at the next October meeting, will move a motion for them to exit the process. The team will also meet with the Attorney General and compliance team, the Finance Minister, the Director of Public Prosecutions, supervisory authorities and reporting entities, including banks and remittance services.
Williams said Guyana has prepared for this visit by having its Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance team conducting meetings with key agencies, including the Financial Action Unit (FIU), The Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) and the Bank of Guyana (BoG) to sensitise them on their AML/CFT obligations.
“There is no delay; Guyana has done something that is unprecedented in the FATF world and that is within a year in Government, we are poised to exit both FATF and CFATF… this is third round. In the fourth round, you will not only have to comply, but show effective compliance. The fourth round has already started because we have already been exposed to the whole issue of de-risking and the National Assessment that has started to identify risks in Guyana”, he said as he explained the process.
Meanwhile, Williams will be attending two CFATF ministerial meetings in Miami, Florida, between September 6 and 9. The special ministerial meeting has on its agenda for discussion, an overview of the core work of CFATF, activities of its steering group and the strategic plan.
The eight Council of Ministers will be held on September 8. The items on that agenda include de-risking/loss of correspondent banking relationships, transparency and beneficial ownership and fourth round mutual evaluation.
At the CFATF plenary meeting and working groups’ agenda held in Montego Bay, Jamaica, in June, CFATF had stated that Guyana had significantly improved its overall level of compliance and had addressed the core key recommendations.
While Guyana is said to have satisfied the criteria application to exit the follow up process, it is still in the FATF/ICRG process which needs to be completed first. As such, it was recommended that Guyana continue enhanced follow-up and be required to report on continuing implementation to the next plenary in November.
