Georgetown : While Guyana was not mentioned in the report of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) at the end of its most recent plenary in Paris, France, President Donald Ramotar said that Guyana is “not out of the woods”.
The country will not have to undergo a targeted review by FATF, the findings of which will be made announced when FATF meets again in October later this year.
Last month Guyana was further blacklisted by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), the regional watchdog body which also referred Guyana to its parent body, FATF. That referral has since been accepted.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday at State House, President Ramotar said that the strengthening of the country’s financial system is at the core economic development and as such, passage of the Anti-money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Bill should not have been a matter of political contention.
“I have said that Bill is an anti-corruption Bill, it an anti- narcotic drug Bill and if you do not want to support that then objectively you are on the side of criminals and money launders, all of that is what you are actually defending…we are not out of the woods, I don’t know what form the review will take,” the President said.
Nevertheless, the Government is moving ahead to put in place the other systems (non-legislative aspects) that came out of the CFATF’s recommendations. This includes the operationalisation of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU). SOCU is a non-parliamentary recommendation that is part of the second round of reviews. It is intended to be Guyana’s response to its treaty obligation to investigate suspicious financial transactions that are related to money laundering. At present, the recruiting process in accordance with the TORs and the short listing of applicants has to be concluded.
Countermeasures for Guyana’s AML deficiencies 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
