Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
May 08, 2014 News
Financial institutions in Guyana have been facing an uphill task of carrying on their business of conducting foreign currency transactions as a result of Guyana being unable to amend its legislation on the Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill (AML/CFT), as recommended by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF).
This is according to Ahmad Khan, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the New Building Society, who was at the time reporting to shareholders during the company’s most recent Annual General Meeting.
He reminded that Guyana now faces the risk of being blacklisted by the CFATF for having weak legislative and operational framework on AML/CFT. In his report to shareholders, Khan said that the Society remains optimistic that the major stakeholders “including our political parties can soon resolve the already long stale-mate, and pass the required legislation in Guyana as recommended by the CFATF to strengthen the country’s ability to deter money laundering and the financing of terrorism and to prosecute offenders.”
He noted that NBS in face of the prevailing climate has taken steps to strengthen its internal policies and procedures to detect money laundering activities across its locations.
“We will continue to work with the Financial Intelligence Unit and other agencies to ensure compliance with the laws and systems which are introduced from time to time.”
The Special Parliamentary Select Committee tasked with addressing the AML/CFT Bill has completed addressing the amendments brought about by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and supported by the Alliance for Change (AFC), and it is now up to the Chief Parliamentary Counsel to ‘tidy up’ the draft.
The next step when the Committee meets is to deal with the counter amendments submitted by Attorney General, Anil Nandlall.
APNU’s Joseph Harmon recently told this publication that he did not expect this to be too much of a tedious or prolonged phase, given that a number of counter amendments submitted by Nandlall coincides with that of APNU.
According to the APNU Member of Parliament, it is very likely that the work of the Committee can be wrapped up before the review of Guyana by the Caribbean Financial Action Taskforce (CFAT), come May 29.
The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, on Friday last had issued another call for the Parliament of Guyana to approve the AML/CFT Bill, which has been under consideration by the Legislature for several months.
Insulza stated that passage of the Act is crucial to bring the country up to standard on these matters, noting that several of Guyana’s CARICOM partners have already adopted similar legislation in compliance with the requirements of CFATF.
Further delays, according to the highest ranking official of the OAS, could result in unnecessary damage to the country’s financial stature.
The Secretary General therefore appealed again to all political parties and other stakeholders in Guyana to exercise leadership and understanding in seeking prompt passage of the Bill.
Secretary General, Insulza, offered the cooperation and support of the OAS through the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), noting that Guyana’s draft law is fully consistent with the most recent recommendations of CICAD’s expert group on money laundering, which were in turn endorsed by CICAD commissioners at their 55th Regular Session in Washington DC this past week.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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