Georgetown : A call is being made for all Guyanese to recognise the importance of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLCFT) Bill, and let their views be known to the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) via petitions, emails or resolutions.
This course of action was called for by Government’s Parliamentary Chief Whip and Presidential Adviser Gail Teixeira on a live National Communications Network television programme last evening
Teixeira said that Guyanese should find a way to let the CFATF understand that, “Here are the legitimate voices of the people who don’t want to see the country go down, let CFATF know that the APNU and the AFC are against the tide of the international standards and global issues on financial matters, and against the national tide. They have pitted themselves against every single legitimate civil body in this society so it’s now time for the voice of the people”.
The actions of the parliamentary opposition which voted against the passage of critically needed amended AMLCFT Bill was “bewildering and baffling” to Teixeira. She said the importance of the legislation should have been understood by all, and noted the precedence set by both President Donald Ramotar and the Private Sector Commission (PSC) which had appealed to the National Assembly to support it.
As far as Teixeira is concerned, there was never any intention by the parliamentary Opposition to support, much less pass the legislation. “Each time it was filibustered in the committee to prevent it…My view now is that the leaders of the opposition, APNU and AFC, cannot rationalise anything that has happened. We can criticise them as being anti-national and anti-patriotic, but I think … there is no rationalisation to explain how you could take a country and put it in jeopardy… It’s either sinister, or you want to bring the government down.”
Joining Teixeira was Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh and Chairman of the PSC Ronald Webster. Webster said his reaction to the stance taken by the political opposition was one of “total disgust”. The PSC chairman said that the organisation’s petition to the National Assembly was aimed at the parliament in “totality” and was not intended to be aimed at any particular party.
CFATF has already prepared a draft report which will constitute the evaluation report of Guyana and in the conclusion of that report; Guyana is scheduled to be declared a non-compliant jurisdiction. This means that member states worldwide are invited to implement against Guyana such counter measures that they deem necessary to protect themselves and their business entities within their respective jurisdictions from the money laundering and terrorism risks which Guyana will pose.
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