Safer Communities is key to tackling money laundering -Canadian Financial Expert

The Canadian expert also pointed out the harms of money laundering and being blacklisted by FATF. According to McGuire, there would be rampant corruption, increased narcotic trade, more kidnappings, a rise in human trafficking and arms trafficking.

Safer Communities is key to tackling money laundering  -Canadian Financial Expert

The Private Sector Commission is continuing its efforts to educate its members and the wider business community about money laundering and other financial crimes.

On Thursday morning, the PSC hosted a lecture on Money Laundering at the Pegasus Hotel.

The event was sponsored by the Canadian Executive Service Organization (CESO) and the Private Sector commission.

PSC official, Ramesh Dookhoo, told the gathering that “we as business people are all aware of the difficulties in conducting business under the blacklist of FATF (Financial Action Task Force).”

Guyana has since been removed from that blacklist and the government has been making legislative efforts to ensure the country stays off the list. 

Corporate member of the PSC, Captain Gerry Gouveia spoke of his experience in the private sector, and noted that the government at the time of the impending blacklist seemed not to care about the consequences that would arise out of Guyana being blacklisted.

He further pointed out that the PSC then formed a task force to pull the country out of the “doldrums” and expressed hope Guyana would be kept off of the blacklist.

Financial expert and the facilitator of the lecture, Canadian, Matthew McGuire, spoke about the global fight against money laundering. 

McGuire is an anti-money laundering expert and has multiple degrees in various sectors of Finance and economics.

He pointed out that the first key to reduce Money Laundering in any country, is to ensure that there are safer communities through crime reduction which would be a launching pad.

The Canadian expert also pointed out the harms of money laundering and being blacklisted by FATF. According to McGuire, there would be rampant corruption, increased narcotic trade, more kidnappings, a rise in human trafficking and arms trafficking.

The other problems that would arise would be the harming and undermining of the legitimate private sector through criminal price subsidies, he also noted that a common money laundering technique is the “commingling of illegitimate proceeds with legitimate ones.”

The destabilization of local financial markets and loss of government revenues would also be offshoots of increased money laundering.

Other impacts would be the disruption of international relationships and banking which could result in suspension of grants and banking services, at this point he showed attendees cases like Jamaica, Panama and the Marshall Islands.

At the end of the lecture, various persons from the audience were allowed to interact and ask questions which were answered by McGuire.

You must be logged in to post a comment Login