Georgetown: President Donald Ramotar has described the continued stance of the political opposition to not approve the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLCFT) Bill which is an anti-corruption measure, as an act of placing the nation in danger, showing by their actions, where they clearly stand.
He noted that the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force’s (CFATF) Chief Executive Officer even visited and met with stakeholders to impress upon them the need to pass the legislation and the dangers of not doing so, yet despite this, the opposition has refused to budge.
“Who is the opposition defending? Objectively they are defending the drug lords everywhere,” he said.
The fact that the bill is internationally compliant and CFATF approved it in its current form, was again noted by the president.
“The opposition is now opening our country to a lot of danger by not wanting to pass this legislation, going against a bill that we already know is CFATF compliant, and in all of that, they want to turn our country into a haven for drug money. Is that their intention?”
Reacting to criticisms that there have not been any major arrests, President Ramotar said that this is similar to what obtains across the Caribbean region, as there have been very few cases. “That is why this amendment is there, to strengthen the law so that this now will become a factor to help capture people who are involved in drugs and money laundering.”
The legislation was described as a very important measure against corruption and the opposition’s actions are counter to the rest of the Caribbean nations, the president noted. “Look at the rest of the Caribbean, in every single jurisdiction in the Caribbean, the opposition parties supported this bill. They took a national position, they took a patriotic position, but this opposition seems incapable of taking any kind of patriotic position to defend the interest of the people of Guyana”.
He added that it was a most outrageous behaviour from an opposition that is knowingly and deliberately exposing the people of this country to difficulties.
The president stressed that while government is willing to compromise, any such move must be in accordance with what is internationally accepted.
There is a danger that some of the proposals will make the bill non-compliant with the 2009 Act. He said that the kindest reaction that can be said of the opposition is that their behaviour has been thus far, “totally irresponsible”.
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