Georgetown: President of the Inter Religious Organisation (IRO), Reverend, Ronald Mc Garrell is appealing to the members of the combined opposition to lay aside their differences and do what is best for Guyana.
Reverend Mc Garrell, speaking on the issue of the non-passage of the Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLCFT) Bill, said that all Guyanese stand to suffer as a result of the bill’s non-passage.
“As Guyanese, whatever is going to happen obviously it will affect all of us. In the short run there are things that will happen that we may not like, but we have to look at the long run.”
Mc Garrell added that if the issue continues to be unresolved then consequently all kinds of difficult situations in the line of transacting business, and furthering investments will present themselves.
“It will create massive problems. From a religious perspective we all need to think of the story of Noah’s ark, we are all in the same boat and whatever happens will affect us all.”
Reverend Mc Garrell reiterated his call to the elected leaders to come together and find common grounds on how this issue should be resolved in a timely manner.
“They should come together with the cooperation of religious leaders and let’s work out something that can save this country. This is a blessed country, God has blessed this country in many ways, I feel the government and the opposition should come together in our parliament and find common ground on which they can resolve this issue taking into consideration that the entire country can be affected.”
The Reverend also spoke of the long lasting impact the non-passage of this bill can have on generations to come.
“We don’t know how long this can stretch out for; this can affect some investments that are on stream and some that may not come again. We need to take all these facts into consideration so that consequently we can do what’s right for Guyana.”
He added that Guyana is currently at a very crucial stage of national development as it has seen significant economic growth in recent years and the AML/CFT bill should be dealt with forthwith if continued progress is everyone’s agenda.
In spite of regional, international and local voices, the Opposition stubbornly refuses to support the passage of a CFATF compliant Bill. In so doing, they have now put in danger our country’s financial system.
At the 39th Meeting of the CFATF held from May 26 to 29, 2014, in Miami, Guyana was subjected to a review, as a result of the National Assembly not passing the AML/CFT Bill, and being referred to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the parent body of CFATF.
CFATF issued a public statement informing the world that Guyana poses serious risks to the international financial system, and called upon the rest of the world to take measures to protect their systems from those risks.
Measures that will be implemented against Guyana include the requirement of enhanced due diligence; introducing enhanced reporting mechanisms or systematic reporting of financial transactions; refusing the establishment of subsidiaries or branches or representative offices in Guyana, 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 Guyana or persons in our country, among others.
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