One of APNU’s proposed amendments to the stalled anti-laundering legislation is not compliant with international-standard recommendations, according to the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), which took a neutral stance on the coalition’s other proposals.
CFATF flagged the main opposition’s proposal for an Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Authority to oversee the operations of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and to appoint and dismiss its director without parameters, saying it could undermine the independence of the body.
CFATF outlined its positions to the select committee charged with considering the AML/CFT (Amendment) Bill following government’s request that it examine the opposition’s proposed amendments.
On Monday, Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall had said that CFATF, by way of the letter, rejected APNU’s proposals as unacceptable since they were not in accordance with the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
However the sentiments expressed in the letter tell a story much different from Nandlall’s.
The letter was written by Calvin Wilson, CAFTF’s Executive Director, and before he addressed the proposed amendments, he said that “it should be noted that the FATF standards are minimal requirements and in most instances do not stipulate specific detailed measures. Generally this allows countries to use whatever mechanisms
