AG Nandlall to review legislative schemes

— as Guyana preps for 4th round of mutual evaluation

DPI, Guyana, Thursday, August 13, 2020

Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Hon. Mohabir Anil Nandlall, has committed to the immediate review of the legislative schemes and framework governing the Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) apparatus, with the view of addressing existing weaknesses and deficiencies.

He made the commitment, on Tuesday, when he met with Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Matthew Langevine, Senior Outreach and Assessment Officer, Alicia Williams, and Rommel St. Hill, AML/CFT Officer within the Ministry of Legal Affairs, for an update on Guyana’s AML/CTF progress, particularly the country’s outstanding obligations under the various international monitoring agencies.

During the meeting, the team reported that the Caribbean Financial Action Taskforce (CFATF) had noted the severe deficiencies in Guyana’s legislative network, due to deficient legislation enacted under the previous Administration.

The team also told the Attorney General that Guyana’s Risk Assessment for the year 2020 is currently under preparation and identified several weaknesses in the existing apparatus.

The Attorney General will be meeting shortly with the National Coordination Committee (NCC) of AML/CFT to begin an institutionalised collaboration.

Guyana, along with several Caribbean countries, will be assessed at the fourth round of mutual evaluation in 2022.

During that round of compliance monitoring, the CFATF will conduct reviews to assess the countries’ levels of implementation of the organisation’s recommendations, providing an in-depth description and analysis of the system for preventing criminal abuse of the financial system.