After being hammered by the two private sector bodies on Tuesday for walking out of a meeting when a proposal was made for the Private Sector Commission (PSC) to observe the meetings of the select committee fine-tuning the anti- money laundering bill, the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) on Wednesday said it is committed to amending the current act of 2009 to ensure that it is effective.
The party also committed to ensuring that the Bank of Guyana (BoG) and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) are empowered and equipped to fulfil their functions and achieve the objectives of the act and to engage the government of Guyana, the private sector, civil society, the trade unions and the international community to protect “our economy with the enforceable Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism ( AML/CFT) laws”.
The PSC had criticised APNU’s position regarding the observation of discussion on the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill, at the parliamentary special select committee. APNU objected to a motion put to the select committee for the proceedings to be observed by the commission.
The PSC, in a statement, said on December 10, APNU gave an unqualified undertaking to support the PSC proposal that the meeting of the special select committee be held in public, thereby facilitating observers.
“The PSC finds it inexplicable that APNU would now renege on its undertaking made at a meeting chaired by its leader, Brigadier (retired) David Granger, and considers this to be a disturbing display of bad faith on the part of the major opposition party.” The commission had requested an urgent meeting with the coalition over the matter.
Meanwhile, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) said members of the National Assembly should leave “political grandstanding” out of the negotiations.
“The chamber noted with deep disappointment the position adopted by A Partnership for National Unity to withdraw and not allow outside observers to the parliamentary select committee debates concerning the amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill,” the GCCI said in a press statement on Tuesday. The coalition has since said that it walked out of the meeting, owing to the disrespectful attitude of the chairperson of the committee, Gail Teixeira.
Deliberate
On Wednesday, the coalition went a step further chastising the People’s Progressive Party/Civic administration for dithering on the issue.
It said the government has deliberately not enforced its own anti-money laundering legislation for over 13 years until it was threatened with sanctions by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) and the international financial community.
Noting that the Money Laundering Prevention Act of 2000 was introduced by the PPP/C 13 years ago, APNU said it was never enforced and was deemed ineffective.
