Latest update November 7th, 2024 1:00 AM
Feb 21, 2014 News
As work continues in the National Assembly to prepare the anti-money laundering legislation for passage before a February 28th deadline, farmers yesterday said that delays have affected their access to millions of dollars in funding from Norway.
Calling for good sense to prevail, the Guyana Agricultural Producers’ Association (GAPA) said that its members, including some 10,000 stakeholders, stand to be affected severely on different fronts.
“One area in particular is the international funding that is available to small and medium-sized enterprises for climate change adaptation activities.”
According to GAPA, the Ministry of Agriculture had already completed the necessary documentation for submission through the Ministry of Finance.
“However, given that the Ministry of Finance is not in a position to produce evidence of compliance with international standards, as stated by CFATF, the multi-million-dollar fund, a scheme supported by Norway, cannot be accessed.”
CFATF is the acronym for Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), the regional regulator that oversees the implementation of the legislation. Already, following a November deadline in which Guyana had failed to have the laws in place, CFATF issued warnings to its member countries, urging them to take steps to protect their economies from the risks of dirty monies entering their financial system.
GAPA yesterday said that financing from grants and loans available from other regional agencies are also being affected by the non-passage of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) (Amendment) Bill.
Government and the Opposition have been battling each other over the legislation which was introduced shortly before a May deadline last year. The Opposition, saying it wanted to study the law changes, sent it to a Special Select Committee of the National Assembly. However, negotiations failed between the Government and the Opposition, and a new November 2013 deadline was also missed.
The Alliance For Change wanted the passage of the legislation to be tied to the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission – the body that will regulate state contracts.
A recent meeting by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global body, has seen Guyana being given until February 28th to essentially get its act in order.
“We welcome the reprieve given to Guyana by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), in not taking Guyana up for the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG)’s Review. However, the new February 28 deadline behooves officials elected by the people to act in their best interest and ensure that the dire consequences of a further negative pronouncement by CFATF be avoided,” GAPA said.
It was pointed out that the agriculture sector is one of Guyana’s main economic pillars and “the average hardworking Guyanese man and woman are the ones at the frontline, who will face the repercussions of non-compliance to international standards”.
CFATF has mandated that Guyana pass recommended legislation and implement all the outstanding issues within its Action Plan. These include fully criminalising money laundering and terrorist financing offences; addressing all the requirements on beneficial ownership; strengthening the requirements for suspicious transaction reporting, international co-operation, and the freezing and confiscation of terrorist assets.
Guyana will also have to fully implement the United Nations Conventions on the anti-money laundering measures.
The issue has seen reported delays in monies being sent and received at banks, with businesses saying that some of their traditional overseas partners have indicated that wired monies were held up by financial institutions.
At least one bank, Citibank from New York, has reportedly ceased doing business with Guyana.
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