Govt. to begin process for return of AML/CFT Bill to National Assembly

By Kurt Campbell

[www.inewsguyana.com] – Attorney General Anil Nandlall in his first public encounter  with the media since his return from Freeport, Bahamas where Guyana recently underwent a review by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force said expressions by the Opposition to retable the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Amendment Bill is welcomed by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP).

He said the re – tabling of the Bill indeed requires the consent of the Opposition and in this regard the Government will move to begin the process. He did not state if the Bill will be returned to a Special Select Committee as the opposition has asked or in its current form to the full House.

Guyana was blacklisted by CFATF for failing to en-act the AML/CFT Amendment Bill. The Bill was defeated in the National Assembly by a Majority Opposition vote.

On that note, Nandlall said Government accepts no responsibility for the rejection of the Bill and the subsequent blacklisting by CFATF. Opposition Leader David Granger had also said that his party – A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) – takes no blame for the blacklisting by CFATF.

The Alliance for Change (AFC) on the other hand maintains that there must be in place the establishment of a Public Procurement Commission before it supports the bill.

Guyana as a member of CFATF – an organization of 29 states in the Caribbean basin – had agreed to implement common counter measures to address the problem of money laundering with time frames for doing same.

Guyana was granted an extra six months in May to pass the Bill and adopt the CFATF recommendations that had been put forward.

Now that Guyana has been blacklisted, financial transactions will come under severe scrutiny, as measures will be taken against banks and other financing outlets.