[www.inewsguyana.com] – The Guyana Association of Bankers (GAB) has joined the Private Sector Commission (PSC) and the Insurance Association in calling for the passage of the Anti – Money Laundering Amendment Bill.
The Bill currently hangs in the air as the quarrel between the government and the political opposition continues.
The government fears that if the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act is not approved by next month, Guyana would be blacklisted by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF).
In this regard, the GAB noted that transactions likely to be affected by the absence of the amended law, which includes bank to bank relationships, access to foreign exchange in a timely manner and the jeopardizing of letters of credit.
According to GAB it remained “concerned with the potential consequences of being blacklisted should Guyana fail to adequately demonstrate progress in implementation of recommendations of the CFATF.”
Government members of the Parliamentary Special Select Committee (PSSC) met on Tuesday (October 22) and completed the work of the Bill.
The draft Bill is now ready to be tabled at the next sitting of Parliament for its final reading. However, this work was completed without the attendance of the parliamentary opposition.
Given this, the main – opposition A Partnership for National Unity is not certain if they will support the Bill and the minority Alliance for Change (AFC) has made it clear that they would not support the Bill.
