…to discuss Anti Money Laundering LegislationA delegation from the Private Sector Commission (PSC) recently met with the opposition coalition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) at the office of the Leader of the Opposition to ventilate concerns and to ascertain the opposition’s position as it relates to passage of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill (AMLCFT) in the National Assembly.The PSC delegation included its Chairman Ronald Webster; Michael Correia, Ramesh Persaud,Wholesale Adidas Hockey Jerseys, Kit Nascimento, John Willems, Clinton Urling,Cheap China Jerseys, Annette Arjoon-Martins and Leon Bacchus. Those present from APNU were the Leader of the Opposition, Brigadier (Rtd.) David Granger,Cheap NFL Jerseys, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, Member of ParliamentMembers of the PSC and APNU in discussionBasil Williams and E. Lance Carberry.Opposition Leader Granger at the meeting with the PSC articulated APNU’s support for the passage of “strong,Cheap Jerseys Store, comprehensive and enforceable legislation which enshrine the institutional capacity and capability to effectively enforce the provisions of the legislation.”As such the party’s contention is that the 2009 Act must be amended to ensure that an independent Bank of Guyana and an autonomous Financial Intelligence Unit are “empowered and adequately equipped, including suitably qualified and experienced staffing, to discharge their functions without hindrance in accordance with the objectives for the legislation.”Granger said that the AML legislation was in existence since the 2000 Money Laundering Act. It was then supplemented with the AMLCFT Act of 2009. “The problem has been the absence of the political will and commitment to enforce the Legislation.”The PSC delegation expressed “support for the APNU position and urged that every effort should be made to have the legislation passed as early as possible to avoid potentially adverse and damaging impacts for the transaction of international business.”Granger, in a recent press conference, articulated with respect to the Bill being returned to the National Assembly that his Party’s position is that the Bill will have to be returned to the Parliamentary Special Select Committee to have their concerns ventilated since it couldn’t be done on the floor of the National Assembly.Had the chairman of the Committee not “blundered” in closing off the Special Select Committee before the work was completed the first time the Bill was presented then the AML legislation would have been passed ever since, said Granger.The Alliance for Change (AFC) position was that its support for the passage of the AMLCFT is conditional only upon the establishment of a Public Procurement Commission (PPC) in its original form without the amendments that government wanted to have. This amendment would give the government the final say on contracts above $15M.Guyana has been blacklisted by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) because of not passing legislation that would see compliance with the CFATF recommendations which is the body mandated with making sure signatory countries are compliant with its treaty bound obligations.The Bill arose from a multilateral evaluation report done by CFATF as it examined Guyana’s compliance with its treaty obligations. The provision in the Bill were instituted and drafted to confirm to CFATF requirements for this particular stage in the evaluation for Guyana’s compliance.When the Bill was presented to the National Assembly in April for its passage the Opposition requested that it be sent to the Parliamentary Special Select Committee for review.This caused Guyana to miss its May 27 deadline. Guyana was subsequently given a new deadline of August 26 for the submission of the amended Act and relevant documents.Seemingly challenged by time, Government in the absence of Opposition members completed the works of the Parliamentary Special Select Committee and announced the Bill would be sent back to the National Assembly. In the National Assembly the Bill was voted against and the AML legislation not passed.The Attorney General did say that if the Bill is passed before February or May,Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale, next,jerseys from china, then Guyana will be able remove itself from the blacklist and be restored to some level of normalcy.It is expected that both the opposition political parties and government will want to have consensus in passing the returned AML Bill before the plenary meeting in May 2014.