Attorney General Anil Nandlall has issued a call for a stronger and more effective regional anti-money laundering framework. 

During an address at the 57th Plenary and Working Group Meeting of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) currently underway in Aruba, the Attorney General recognized the work that CFATF has done over the years while acknowledging the efforts of the assessors in their Mutual Evaluations.

However, he called on CFATF to ensure that the assessors continue to be trained in order to improve their capabilities so that they can be even more objective and clinical in their assessments.

“The Mutual Evaluation Peer Assessment of a nation’s financial sector for AML/CFT compliance in accordance with the requisite international standards is an exercise of fundamental importance. An adverse assessment can have pernicious consequences and far reaching ramifications for a country’s financial sector, economic welfare and can affect the lives and livelihoods of an entire population. It is therefore imperative that these assessors appreciate the magnitude of their responsibility and discharge them with diligence and objectivity,” the Hon. Attorney General said.

He expressed the view that his observations be taken in good faith for there to be stronger framework in place to assess countries.

Guyana was evalutated by CFATF in September, and is expected to defend its position at the CFATF 58th Plenary in Trinidad next year.

A statement from the AG’s office said the attendance at this CFATF 57th Plenary in Aruba provides a critical opportunity for Guyanese authorities to assess similar items in relation to their assessment, and adequately defend Guyana’s position before the CFATF 58th Plenary.

Guyana’s delegation includes senior representatives from the Bank of Guyana, Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), Guyana Gold Board, Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), Guyana Securities Council.

Related posts:

CFATF sees need for unified Law Enforcement response to money laundering in Guyana CFATF begins mutual evaluation of Guyana’s anti-money laundering regime Mutual evaluation of Guyana’s anti-money laundering efforts set to begin Monday US Ambassador urges Caribbean nations to begin real work of tackling money laundering