Guyanese report increased challenges with money Transfers : …after stalled anti-laundering bill THERE have been increasing reports, particularly regarding remittances, of the impacts resulting from the warning by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) after Guyana missed the given deadline for the passage of the Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Bill.CFATF at its plenary meeting in November 2013 warned its members to “consider implementing counter measures to their financial systems from the ongoing money laundering and terrorist financing risks” emanating from Guyana. The latest case related to the Guyana Chronicle was the increased burden of receiving money sent from overseas by a family member. The man, who requested anonymity, told this newspaper that the local money agency had to call their United States office to have the money released. “My sister had to convince them that she was sending money to her brother and before I could get the money, only US$100, there was a long process of verifying,” he said. When contacted by the Guyana Chronicle, the consensus from two major money transfer companies in Guyana, Western Union and Money Gram, was that additional verifications are needed, in the absence of the updated AML/CFT legislation. A senior official from Western Union’s head office in Jamaica was unavailable for comment on the step by step procedure being currently used. A supervisor with MoneyGram, Darshanie Persaud, with the Neal and Massy Services Limited (NMSL), the financial services arm of the Neal and Massy Guyana Group of Companies, however, confirmed the challenges with the new procedure. She explained that some transfers are placed on hold until the office in the sender’s country can convey additional confirmations to allow the money’s release. “Sometimes we need a copy of the sender’s passport or identification card and once we clear confirmation in the sender’s country we release the money,” Persaud said. CASE MADE In an invited comment, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, noted that he is happy that members of the public are relating the story of increased difficulties due to the non-passage of the Bill. He said, “When I and other Members of Parliament on the Government side spoke about this (the challenges) in the National Assembly and elsewhere we were criticised. “We were accused of fabricating these problems and of engaging in scaremongering and of attempting to intimidate the private sector and the population. “What we are seeing now make it clear that we did not exaggerate the impacts of being blacklisted.” The AG pointed out that he had warned that the impacts would take a month to really be felt. “A month has passed and we are seeing the impacts and repercussions,” he said. Nandlall added that the records show that the remittances received in December were a “fraction” of what is usually received in comparative periods. According to him, the “case is made for the Special Select Committee, where the Bill was once more returned after being re-tabled in the House in December 2013, to proceed with haste. “We need the Special Select Committee to proceed with every convenient speed to conclude its work on reviewing the Bill and make what changes it needs to,” Nandlall said. The AG, however, maintained his warning of caution in changes being made to the Bill. “I maintain resolutely that whatever changes are intended to be made be done in recognition of the fact that the Bill has been approved, clause by clause, by CFATF as meeting its requirements. As a member of the Special Select Committee, Nandlall confirmed that the Opposition has yet to submit, circulate or make public any recommendations for changes to the AML/CFT Bill. NOT AVAILABLE When contacted, Chair of the Committee, Gail Teixeira, told the Guyana Chronicle that no date has been set for the Committee to meet to begin its review. Since the Bill was returned to the Committee, the body has met once to confirm a Chairperson for the Committee, which was done on Monday. Teixeira said, “The Opposition was not available to meet this week, so we have yet to agree on a date sometime next week.” FEBRUARY DEADLINE She stressed that the aim will be to ensure that the Committee’s work is completed by the first week of February. “We want to meet the FATF (French-based Financial Action Task Force) deadline,” she said. The FATF is expected to hold a review in February, which Guyana could be included in, following CFATF’s designation of Guyana as a country with strategic anti-money laundering and countering the financing terrorism deficiencies that has not made sufficient progress in addressing the deficiencies and have not complied with its Action Plan developed with CFATF to address these deficiencies. CFATF itself is expected to review Guyana’s position in May 2014 at its next meeting. If Guyana is unable to meet the May 2014 deadline, the body is expected to hand Guyana over to the Financial Action Task Force for the International Cooperation Review Group’s (ICRG) evaluation to begin. PULL QUOTE: ‘The records show that the remittances received in December were a “fraction” of what is usually received in comparative periods. The case is made for the Special Select Committee, where the Bill was once more returned after being re-tabled in the House in December 2013, to proceed with haste’
Posted on: Thu, 16 Jan 2014 19:11:13 +0000
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