Guyana further BLACKLISTED by CFATF

[www.inewsguyana.com] – Attorney General, Anil Nandlall has reported from Miami, Florida that the Caribbean Financial Task Force (CFATF) has once again recognized Guyana as a jurisdiction with significant Anti- Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) deficiencies and has failed to make significant progress in addressing those deficiencies in keeping with agree timelines.

As such, CFATF considers Guyana to be a risk to the international financial system and called upon other member countries to implement further counter measures to protect their financial systems from the ongoing money laundering and terrorist financing risks emanating from Guyana.

Also, the CFATF has referred Guyana to the FATF.

Countermeasures could entail, among others, the requirement of enhanced due diligence measures; introducing enhanced reporting mechanisms or systematic reporting of financial transactions; refusing the establishment of subsidiaries or branches or representative offices in the country concerned, or otherwise taking into account the fact that the relevant financial institution is from a country that does not have adequate AML/CFT systems and limiting the business relationships or financial transactions with the identified country or persons in that country, according to a statement by CFATF.

The CFATF XXXIX Plenary Meeting concluded today in Miami, Florida with Guyana being the subject of the CFATF ICRG review as a result of its failure to rectify certain identified deficiencies in its AML/CFT regime, according to Nandlall.

Earlier, the Alliance for Change (AFC) said that the amended Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill can be passed within seventy-two hours but was subject to the government’s willingness to fast track the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC).

Leader of the AFC, Khemraj Ramjattan said their position has been communicated to Government and insisted that their type of politics is the only way to get Government to implement the PPC.

The AFC maintains that it will not be shafted again by Government, who it says has breached most of its agreement with the Opposition and insist that the PPC becomes operational before their support is given.

The Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) is an organisation of twenty-seven jurisdictions of the Caribbean Basin Region, which have agreed to implement the international standards for Anti-money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT), Financial Action Task Force Recommendations (FATF Recommendations).

In order to protect the international financial system from money laundering and financing of terrorism (ML/FT) risks and to encourage greater compliance with the AML/CFT standards, the CFATF identified jurisdictions that have strategic deficiencies and works with them to address those deficiencies that pose a risk to the international financial system.