Guyana’s AML/CFT regime still in chaos – Nandlall

Guyana’s Attorney General, Basil Williams, has been accused of contradicting the impression that the country is compliant with the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) requirements, based on statements he made in the National Assembly on Thursday.
Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Anil Nandlall pointed out that Williams admitted in Parliament he was informed by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) that amendments made to the AML/CFT Amendment Bill in 2015 are in violation of the international guidelines.
Williams, he said, told the House that he was also directed to remove them from the legislation.
Nandlall recalled that when the coalition took office in 2015, the first Bill it passed was the AML/CFT (Amendment) Bill, No.1 of 2015. It was tabled at the very first sitting of the 11th Parliament.
“It contained all of the objectionable amendments. It was tabled by Williams. He was boastful that he was able to pass the Bills that the previous Government could not pass. It is obvious, therefore, that we were never compliant with the international requirements, as the AG (had) previously informed the nation,” he said.
The former Attorney General also noted that while in the Opposition, the now Government caused Guyana to be blacklisted by the CFATF, and to be sanctioned internationally. “Now in Government, they have caused the very same thing to happen! The incompetence knows no limit!” he posited.
Nandlall drew attention to the fact that the APNU+AFC used their one-seat majority in the 10th Parliament to vote down certain legislative amendments tabled by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government, which were required to be enacted to bring Guyana’s financial system into compliance with international standards established by the FATF and the CFATF.
As a result, he said, Guyana’s financial system was visited by a regime of sanctions, which are still in force. “I am sure that everyone would recall the monumental efforts which were expended in attempting to get the Opposition to cooperate and support the amendments tabled by the then Government in Parliament.
“During that period, the AML/CFT Bills were taken to a Select Committee twice. The APNU+AFC took the majority seats in that Committee, which meant that they had control over it. In that Committee, they made a host of amendments to the Bill that was under review.
“Prominent among those amendments was the creation of a top-heavy, 20-member Authority to oversee the functions of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). Ten of those 20 members were ex-officio office holders of various statutory/constitutional offices in Guyana. For example, the Commissioner of Police, the Governor of the Central Bank the Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority etc.
The PPP side disagreed with these amendments, he said. “I pointed out that the creation of such an Authority was not among the recommendations from the international agencies. I further pointed out that such an Authority would compromise the functional independence and autonomy of the FIU, and that the independence of that Unit was an indispensable requirement of FATF and CFATF,” Nandall recalled.
The former AG had also argued that the National Assembly, which is comprised of “politically exposed persons”, cannot be part of the appointing mechanism to the AML/CFT infrastructure, because these very persons are to be investigated by the FIU, and this will constitute a conflict of interest.
Williams’s admission is, no doubt, according to Nandlall, another major blunder made by the Government.