International Monetary Fund (IMF) officials expressed interest in assets declarations of Guyana’s public officials when they met Attorney General (AG) Basil Williams last week.
“The visiting team inquired of assets declarations of public officials,” a statement from the AG Chambers said, as it announced that an IMF team met with Williams.
“Responding to these inquiries was Mr Kumar Doraisami, the Chairman of the Integrity Commission. He highlighted the relevant provisions of the Integrity Commission Act, Cap 26:01 and the mandate of the Commission,” the statement said.
Doraisami, when contacted yesterday, confirmed the meeting and the inquiries made but said that he could not at the time give details of the meeting. He said that would be done today when he is at his office.
Last Wednesday, a visiting IMF delegation comprising Dr Arnold McIntyre, Seedwell Hove, Aasim Hussain, Zahra Mohammed, Julean Chow and Ippei Shibata met with Williams at his office.
“The meeting centred on the Government’s Anti-Corruption Policy especially in relation to anti-money laundering and the countering of finance of terrorism and proliferation (AML/CFT/PF) and Guyana’s legal and institutional framework relating to the UN Convention Against Corruption,” the statement said.
The failure of a number of public officials to declare their assets and liabilities has been under the spotlight over the past months and Doraisami has said that legal action will be taken against those public officials who have failed to file their declarations.
President David Granger last month acknowledged that he was not in compliance with the Integrity Commission Act, which mandates holders of certain public offices to declare their assets and liabilities on or before June 30th of each year. He said that he was working to rectify the situation.
The president also said that he was concerned that some of his ministers have not complied even though it is the policy of Cabinet.
The Integrity Commission has identified over 160 public officials whom it says have failed to submit declarations of their assets and liabilities in keeping with the law.
The Commission identified 163 persons from 20 public agencies, including the Guyana Power and Light Inc, the Guyana Post Office Corporation, the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority and the Cheddi Jagan International Airport who were still to file submissions.
The Integrity Commission Act requires that every person who is a person in public life, not being a member of the Commission, files a declaration every year on or before June 30th and in cases where such persons cease to be a person in public life, within 30 days from the date on which the person ceases to be a person in public life.
“A declaration under subsection (1) or (2) shall give full, true and complete particulars of the assets and liabilities as on the relevant date, and the income during a period of twelve months immediately prior to the relevant date, of the person filling the declaration (whether the assets were held by that person in his own name or in the name of any other person) and of the spouse and children of such person to the extent to which such person has knowledge of the same,” it further states.
Meanwhile, according to the statement from the AG’s Chambers on the IMF visit, Williams indicated to the team that Granger, upon coming into office in 2015, gave a high level commitment to combat corruption.
“ As a result of this commitment and the zero tolerance to corruption stance of the Government, the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs indicated that Guyana was able to exit the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)/International Co-operation Review Group (ICRG) and Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) third round mutual evaluation process. This was as a result of several amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Finance of Terrorism Act, Cap 10:11 and the passing of the Terrorism and Terrorist Related Activities Act 2015 which dealt with the Vienna Convention, Palermo Convention and the Terrorism Financing Convention,” the statement said.
It said that Williams told the delegation that legislation was passed giving effect to the UN Convention Against Corruption, namely the State Assets Recovery Act 2017, the Witness Protection Act 2018 and the Protected Disclosures (Whistleblower) Act 2018. Williams, according to the statement, also discussed the mandate of the AML/CFT/PF National Coordination Committee and Guyana’s upcoming fourth round mutual evaluation by the CFATF.
