Anti-money laundering bill voted down

Months of wrangling by the political parties over who was to blame for the threat of blacklisting ended tonight with the opposition voting in Parliament against the anti-money laundering bill.

It had been clear from early in today’s session of parliament that the opposition would not vote for the bill as the Select Committee deliberating on it had closed off discussions without the final input of the opposition.

Guyana faces a November 18 deadline by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force to have the legislation in place and it is now left to be seen what the ramifications of this absence of the law will be.

The private sector had lobbied aggressively in recent weeks for all sides to work for the passage of the bill, warning of an interruption in normal inter-banking relations and a rise in remittance fees among other things.