Guyana joins Caribbean networks to go after financial criminals
According to Attorney General Anil Nandlall, Guyana has strengthened its relationships with neighbouring Caribbean nations to pursue assets and fight money laundering even as it gets ready to join a worldwide information-sharing network on financial crimes.
He said that Guyana was now a part of the eight-member steering committee that oversees the Asset Recovery Inter-Agency Network of the Caribbean (ARIN-CARIB), which is an operational arm of the Regional Security System (RSS).
According to him, ARIN-CARIB focuses on the informal collaboration of the law enforcement authorities to facilitate information sharing in the recovery of assets amassed from criminal activity.
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Guyana, according to the Attorney General, inked six Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) outside of the plenary with FIUs from Bermuda, the Bahamas, Haiti, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the British Virgin Islands. According to him, these MOUs will help with intelligence collecting and analysis for investigations into money laundering.
He added that Guyana would soon join the Egmont Group, a platform that enables the secure exchange of information among FIUs across 137 countries. The 55th plenary and working group meetings of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), which were held in the Cayman Islands from November 27 to December 1, were concluded.
After passing more crucial revisions to the Anti-Money Laundering/Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act recently, the Attorney General claimed Guyana was now one step closer to joining. He stated that the Egmont Group’s Membership, Support and Compliance Working Group would receive Guyana’s application on the margins of the upcoming Egmont Plenary, which is planned to take place in early 2023.
Mr. Nandlall said the Attorney General’s Chambers initiated additional training—a virtual 4th Round Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Standards Training—slated for early January 2023. He expressed optimism that Guyana is on track in its preparation for the mutual evaluation scheduled for September 2023.
While the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) met with other regional law enforcement agencies to form strategic alliances to combat cross-border related issues of money laundering and terrorist financing, the Bank of Guyana also held discussions with the CFATF on the fringes of the Plenary regarding sector specific training for its staff in anticipation of the upcoming Mutual Evaluation.
The Plenary was the first in-person gathering of the CFATF Member countries since the COVID-19 outbreak, and hundreds of members of the CFATF, FATF, and other international organisations attended. Through a series of strategic relationships formed on the sidelines of the plenary meeting, Guyana was able to improve its position in the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing (ML/TF) during this in-person meeting. The Attorney General continued, “Guyana’s participation in the Plenary is consistent with the Government’s resolve to combat financial crime and money-laundering on all fronts.
The United States, Britain, Canada, and the European Union asked the Guyana government to enforce its anti-corruption legislation by going after offenders in order to send a strong message that the scourge would not be accepted. Guyana then announced continuous measures to combat financial crimes. The Western envoys in Guyana said last week that the country’s “vigorous anti-corruption policies and prompt responses to evidence-based cases of corrupt practises will clearly demonstrate to Guyana’s citizens and the rest of the world that the government is committed to transparency, accountability, and responsiveness for the future benefit of all Guyanese.”
