The Special Select Committee examining the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Finance of Terrorism Bill 2007 has invited oral and written submissions from members of the public, as its work gets underway after a year-long lapse.
According to a notice in the press on Wednesday, the committee has begun its work and wishes to receive from members of the public – individuals as well as organisations – their views on the legislation. The committee is also inviting individuals and organisations to appear and give oral evidence indicating their interest.
Speaking to this newspaper on Wednesday, Alliance For Change (AFC) parliamentarian Raphael Trotman said that the committee, of which he is a member, has only recently formulated a work plan and no actual work has started as yet. He said no reason was proffered by the chairman for the long delay in the start of the committee’s work. The work of the Select Committee has been stymied for nearly a year since its formation in June 2007, after the first reading of the bill.
Trotman had complained some weeks ago that the only time the committee had met after its constitution was during last year to appoint a chairman and it has been dormant ever since.
President Bharrat Jagdeo had last month given a commitment that the money laundering legislation would be passed by next month.
The Bill, tabled in 2007, provides for oversight of export industries, the insurance industry, real estate, and alternative remittance systems, and sets forth the penalties for non-compliance. It also establishes the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) as an independent body that answers only to the President, and defines in detail its role and powers.
The Bill is believed to be a significant improvement on previous anti-money laundering legislation and covers, among other things, the freezing and forfeiture of assets owned or controlled by persons suspected of engaging in money laundering activities.
The legislation seeks also to strengthen the FIU by giving it broader responsibilities.
Jagdeo, at a recent press briefing, said it was government’s intention to move forward with the legislation but in a way that would facilitate Guyana becoming an offshore financial centre (OFC).
In February, Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh chaired a meeting of senior government officials and representatives of the Guyana Association of Bankers to discuss the potential for cooperating to facilitate the development of Guyana as an OFC.
Singh had said that a number of issues had impeded the work of the committee but the bill would be consulted upon and passed. He had said too that considerable technical work on the various parts of the bill, which he referred to as complex, had been done apart from the work of the Select Committee. But he said the committee was gearing itself to receive submissions on the Bill from various stakeholder groups.
However, members of the committee had not been advised by Singh of this. Trotman told this newspaper on Wednesday that the committee has taken no decision on the issue of the OFC as it relates to the work on the money laundering legislation.
This newspaper was told that part of the reason for the delay was the insertion of a new section into the legislation to allow for civil forfeiture of assets suspected to have been gained from the proceeds of crime. The legislation already makes provision for criminal forfeiture.
The 2008 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) stated that government made no arrests or prosecutions for money laundering in 2007 and Guyana currently has inadequate legal and enforcement mechanisms to combat money laundering, although legislation tabled in Parliament would enhance the anti-money laundering regime.
The INCSR found that money laundering was perceived as a serious problem, and had been linked to trafficking in drugs, firearms, and persons, as well as to corruption and fraud.
