Reporting entities duty-bound to comply with AML/CFT/CPF legislation
DPI, Guyana, Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Reporting entities in Guyana have a legal responsibility to adhere to the Anti-Money Laundering, Countering-Terrorist Financing and Countering-Proliferation Financing (AML/CFT/CPF) legislation. This is according to the Attorney General Chambers following a meeting chaired by Hon. Basil Williams SC., Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs.
The National Coordinating Committee of the Attorney General Chambers and the Ministry of Legal Affairs met on July 19. It was during this meeting that the committee affirmed that Supervisory Authorities are duty-bound to ensure that all reporting entities become compliant with the AML/CFT/CPF legislation. “Effective AML/CFT/CPF regimes promote financial transparency and encourage the rule of law,” a release from the AG Chambers stated.
On Monday, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) inked Memorandums of Understanding with seven government agencies, opening the door to greater information sharing. The agencies included the Bank of Guyana (BoG), the Guyana Gold Board (GGB), the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), the Guyana Securities Council, the Chief Cooperative Development Officer, the Registrar of Friendly Societies, and the Land Registry.
On July 19, several agenda items were also discussed which include; Guyana’s recent contribution to the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) Secretariat; the committee’s preparations to conduct another national risk assessment; the plan to strengthen its regulation of beneficial ownership applications as well as the operationalising of the national strategic plan to prepare Guyana for another round of mutual evaluation by CFATF.
The committee concluded that a collaborative approach remains an integral aspect for the supervision and enforcement of an effective AML/CFT/CPF regime.
Meanwhile, the committee noted that its members must be trained to enhance its supervisory capacity. In this regard, several of its members will soon receive assessor training by the CFATF in Barbados. The applicants will be trained to conduct a mutual evaluation using the revised Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations and methodology. Also, persons will receive pre-mutual evaluation training which will prepare them to conduct a sectoral review of the legal, financial and regulatory framework.
Editor’s Note: CFATF is an observer member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) an intergovernmental organisation that designs and promotes policies and standards to combat financial crime.