Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
May 09, 2013 News
– Guyana faces being put on int’l blacklist
The Parliamentary opposition on Tuesday evening halted the speed of government to amend laws against financial crimes, namely money laundering and financing for terrorism.
But they did agree to work speedily in a special Parliamentary committee to ensure that the laws are acceptably fashioned and returned to the House for a vote on May 22.
The government went into high gear to race the amendments through the National Assembly in order to meet a May-month end deadline set by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force, or face tough sanctions.
“Some of the ramifications and consequences which can flow and sanctions which may be imposed as a result of our non-compliance, can be…putting us on what is referred to as an international blacklist and when countries are placed on that list, a whole new set of international treatment is meted out to countries,” Attorney General Anil Nandlall told the National Assembly.
“Also, prohibitory sanctions are imposed which would preclude Guyana from participating in a whole host of activities to which we are accustomed,” he added.
The Opposition wondered why the government waited for the “eleventh hour” to take the Bills to the National Assembly.
In a desperate plea to the Opposition, the Attorney General did not proclaim his innocence, almost agreeing that the amendments were tabled late. However, he said much work was done over the last three weeks.
“I am asking for their support in a difficult situation,” he said of the Opposition, adding that he was craving their indulgence, on the altars of nationalism and patriotism.
But the opposition balked at his rhetoric.
“It is not only when we are faced with international sanctions that we come conveniently to invoke patriotism and national interest in this Assembly,” Moses Nagamootoo of the Alliance for Change declared.
Nagamootoo argued that the reforms to the laws must be examined carefully and could not be rushed through in a day. Besides, he said the reforms to the money laundering and countering financing terrorism Acts, requires amending a range of other laws.
And so, he said that it would not serve the national interest to treat the matter with haste.
“We have to treat this National Assembly with respect,” Nagamootoo stated.
He said that the government lacked political will to implement legislation against financial crimes, pointing to the fact that in the last four years since the original law came into place, no one was prosecuted for money laundering. Further, he said that the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is but one man parading as a toothless poodle.
Gail Texeira, the government’s Chief Whip, tried to pressure the Opposition into dealing with the matter on Tuesday evening, but she apparently started off on the wrong foot, “warning” the House that it was heading into dangerous delays by pursuing a course that could jeopardize the country meeting the deadline.
She said that if the Opposition did their homework they could have dealt with the matter on Tuesday evening itself.
Her “warning” did not go down well with the Opposition, and they heckled her, almost drowning out anything she had to say. When she begged the Speaker for “protection” he did not ask the Opposition to tone down, indicating that Texiera’s tone is what sparked the heckling.
Nagamootoo emphasized that the Opposition would treat the matter expeditiously in the Parliamentary Select Committee, but would not do so “with a shotgun held to our heads.”
The Special Select Committee was set up at midnight Tuesday. Those on the Committee from the government side are Teixeira, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee, Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh and Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Anil Nandlall. On the opposition side, Khemraj Ramjattan is representing the Alliance For Change, while A Partnership for National Unity named Deborah Backer, Joseph Harmon, Basil Williams and Carl Greenidge.
The Committee will elect its Chairman next Wednesday when it holds its first meeting.
Parliamentary Select Committees are notorious for their slothfulness and for missing deadlines, and the government was afraid that the same could happen this time around. The Opposition, particularly the major coalition bloc, APNU, had earlier said that it is possible for the matter to be concluded in a timely manner.
The government is keen not to be seen as a country that is not adhering to international conventions against money laundering and financing for terrorism.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global watchdog against financial crimes, will meet in Nicaragua from May 27-30 and will examine how Guyana and other countries in the Caribbean are meeting international obligations.
The Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is demanding that Guyana tightens its anti-money laundering Act by the end of the month, so as to comply with the recommendation of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force.
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