Anti-money laundering Act to be review – AG

The current legislative framework crafted to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing is set to be reviewed. The Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, made this disclosure following a meeting with the Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Matthew Langevine; the Senior Outreach and Assessment Officer, Alicia Williams, and the Anti-Money Laundering/ Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Officer within the Ministry of Legal Affairs, Rommel St. Hill. The meeting was held on Wednesday at the Attorney General’s Chambers. According to information disseminated to the media by the Office of the Attorney General, the team revealed that the Caribbean Financial Action Taskforce (CFATF) has indicated that there are serious deficiencies in Guyana’s legislative network because of deficient legislation enacted under the previous Administration. According to the statement, the team also related that Guyana’s Risk Assessment for the year 2020, is currently under preparation and identified a number of weaknesses in the existing apparatus.

As such, Nandlall committed to an immediate review of the entire legislative scheme and a comprehensive overview of the existing apparatus with a view of addressing the weakness and deficiencies. During the visit by the FIU, Nandlall also announced that he will be meeting with the National Coordination Committee (NCC) of the AML/CFT shortly to begin an institutionalized collaboration. The FIU Team has so far provided a status update on Guyana’s AML/ CTF progress, in particular, outlining the country’s outstanding obligations under the various international monitoring agencies. It was disclosed that apart from Trinidad and Tobago and The Bahamas, Guyana, and the rest of the Caribbean, are all being assessed for the fourth round of mutual evaluation.

(Kaieteur News)