Georgetown: The Alliance For Change (AFC ) considers the suppression of the letter from Caribbean Financial Action task Force( CFATF) by the Government of Guyana from the Opposition and the people of Guyana a betrayal of immense proportions.
According to a statement by the party, the AFC was notified for the first time on Friday May 17th, 2013 by the Government of Guyana of a letter dated 10th day of April 2013 from the Caribbean Financial Action task Force( CFATF) to President Donald Ramotar.
The letter advised the President as follows "We would strongly encourage that this letter be disseminated to ….. the Honourable Leader of the opposition as well as members of the Opposition." It continued "Guyana's report to the May 2013 CFATF Plenary should be comprehensive, in writing and submitted to the Secretariat well ahead of the Plenary meeting and in any event by May 6, 2013."
The statement noted that among the several issues of the utmost national importance outlined in the letter were several warnings and references to various earlier notifications to the Government of Guyana of the precarious position that Guyana was potentially exposed to since November 2012.
The CFATF reminded the Government of Guyana that "We note the assertions of the Honourable Attorney General, the Minister of Finance and the Cabinet Secretary/Head of the Presidential Secretariat to refocus the national efforts towards implementing measures set out in Guyana's action plan according to the scheduled deadline of April 30th 2013 for placing the relevant legislative measures before the parliament. However as the HLM Report properly recognizes, these must be juxtaposed with the experience of missed deadlines in February 2013. Additionally, this date fails to take into account the decision by the November 2012 plenary that Guyana, as well as all other jurisdictions within CFATF ICRG process, is required to become compliant with all the core and key recommendations by the May 2013 Plenary and is required to report to the May 2013 Plenary on the state of its reform programme."
The political party further noted that the Government, having clearly placed the country in a position of grave danger not only failed to alert the people of Guyana since November 2012 of the jeopardy which the country faced but further suppressed the fact that CFATF had notified the Government that "with regard to the agencies interviewed, there appears to be little or no coordination or cooperation with regard to the relevant activities and the possible effects for the overall AML/CFT regime. On the 22nd day of April 2013 when the Government tabled the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Bill 2013 it ducked the letter from the CFATF to the President Ramotar and after having placed the country in great jeopardy and missed several deadlines, came with reptilean tears to the nation warning of the dire consequences of failure to support the bill. “Given all of the above, it is now clear that this government's commitment to stamp out money laundering is highly questionable. The AFC is of the firm view that the Government's recklessness in the management of the country's national and international affairs is nothing short of treachery.The country is now forced to seriously consider what other matters of national importance have been hidden from the nation. In the light of CFATF's demand for a comprehensive written report to be submitted before May 6th 2013, the AFC challenges Government to inform the nation whether or not this deadline had been met and when it will be made available to the members of the National Assembly. The AFC views the sustained attacks by Government on the Opposition on this issue as a smokescreen to hide its delinquent behaviour in not pursuing reforms to fight financial crimes as required. The accusations of "political pettiness", "insensitivity" and "irrationality" aptly describe the PPP/C government.”
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