Latest update May 13th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 20, 2014 News
A year-long Parliamentary deadlock over critical anti-money legislation is continuing, with the Opposition Leader on
Wednesday refusing to accept an offer by President Donald Ramotar to pass the Bill with a number of Opposition-tabled amendments.
It would be first major sign that Government is willing to concede on the Anti- Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Bill which has been hanging in limbo since being presented to Parliament in April last year. The Opposition had refused passage until a number of Bills it piloted are assented to, and the long-awaited Public Procurement Commission to oversee Government contracts is established.
Guyana has been blacklisted by the region’s regulator, the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), which has been warning its member countries to take steps to protect itself from risks emanating from Guyana. Under agreements, Guyana and the rest of the world has to put systems and laws in place to stem the flow of “dirty money” from entering the financial system. This meant that not only laws that indicates a triggering system in place to detect illegal proceeds, but enforcement mechanisms too.
Guyana has been referred to the world body, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which is to meet in a few days.
According to President Ramotar in a statement yesterday, he met with the Leader of the Opposition, Brigadier (Ret’d) David Granger, on Wednesday evening, and proposed that the Government was willing to pass the Bill with the Opposition’s amendments.
“This was even though we felt it was non-compliant, and even though we did not agree with it, that we would vote for it so that we can have a Bill before the FATF meeting later in June 2014.”
The Head of State said that he also proposed that if CFATF and FATF were to find that the Bill had non-compliant provisions, that the Opposition would support amending it accordingly.
During the meeting, the President said he also proposed that because of the urgency of the matter, the Opposition would not link his offer to pass the Bill to other demands. These demands include the Presidential assent of all Bills passed by the National Assembly and support for the Public Procurement Commission being established without Cabinet retaining its role in granting no-objection to awards above $15M.
“The Opposition Leader declined my offer. Fellow Guyanese, we have worked hard to get the legislation through because we believe that the consequences could be very serious for our people. We said before that it was a patriotic duty to have this Bill passed and spare you the Guyanese people the negative consequences of not doing so.”
Ramotar believed that the Opposition seems to have put more importance on “its own narrow political, party agenda before the welfare and interest of our people. Compatriots, I wish to assure you that we would continue to do all we can to protect our nation’s interests. Regrettably, this is now being made much more difficult because of the clear unpatriotic stance taken by the Opposition, APNU.”
It will be recalled that the controversial Bill was laid in the National Assembly in April 2013. “This Bill, as was stated before, came out of an international process. I thought that because of the nature of the Bill and the serious consequences that can follow from the National Assembly by not passing the Bill that it would have passed unanimously and easily through the National Assembly.”
That, unfortunately, was not to be.
“The Bill was sent to a Special Select Committee by the joint Opposition on the grounds that they had amendments to make. From April to November that year, they made no proposals for any change,” the President said in explaining the sequence of events.
The Bill was then taken back to the National Assembly in November 2013, just before the CFATF meeting.
“This was done because that regional body had confirmed that the Bill met the requirements of that body. Unfortunately on November 7, 2013, the joint opposition voted against it.”
The Bill went back to the National Assembly on November 19, 2013. The joint Opposition again sent it to a Special Select Committee.
“From December 2013 to February 7, 2014, they made no proposals for amending the Bill.
It was not until Sunday, February 8, at 9 pm, that they proposed some amendments.
The amendments they proposed made the Bill non-compliant with CFATF standards.”
According to the President, it was not only the Government that thought the amendments were non-compliant but CFATF’s assessor, Roger Hernandez, thought so too, during a visit to Guyana.
“Despite knowing this, the Opposition continued to hold on to their amendments. Moreover they also put conditions, including that the President should sign all Bills passed by the National Assembly, and that the Government must agree to a Public Procurement Commission, without the issue of Government’s concern of maintaining Cabinet’s role of granting its no-objection to all contracts above $15M.”
Listen how to run an oil country
May 13, 2024
GCB T10 Blast Semi-finals… Kaieteur Sports – The semi-finals of the GCB T10 Blast will get underway today, barring inclement weather as the final four teams look to book spots in the...Kaieteur News – The PPP is engaging in myth-making in seeking to perpetuate the narrative that it is now an ideologically... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Is it ever justifiable for journalism to fan the flames of geopolitical tension? This question arises... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]