David Granger
A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) leader David Granger has declared that the coalition will not approve a flawed Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Bill.
Speaking at the coalition’s weekly press conference on Friday, at its headquarters on Hadfield Street, Georgetown, Granger said the bill is being thoroughly scrutinised for errors.
“We have had an Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act for four years… they’ve been trying to push through… we have only been working on it for four months, we made it clear, we want to see a bill which has teeth.”
Granger noted that APNU will not give the Guyanese something that will not work.
APNU, he said is close to finalising the amendments to the bill, and has been gathering information from stakeholders.
“We have gotten a much wider range of evidence; we have been able to look at the recommendations of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) and we felt that if the government allowed the process to work, we can get a properly amended act in a reasonable time.”
Granger said the opposition will pass a proper bill.
The amended bill was read in the National Assembly for the first time on April 22, and subsequently on May 7 when the opposition voted for it to be sent to a special select committee.
On May 27, Guyana missed the CFATF’s deadline and if blacklisted by Financial Action Task Force (FATF) countries as a result of its failure to meet the new November 18 deadline, financial transactions involving Guyanese companies will be intensely scrutinised, creating significant delays in the financial and banking systems.
