Designed to inform reporting entities of their obligations and responsibilities, the Ministry of Legal Affairs’s Compliance Team recently held a one day Anti-Money Laundering Outreach and Sensitisation Seminar at the Little Rock Suites in New Amsterdam, Berbice.
The Seminar highlighted the importance of the 4th round of Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) mutual evaluations and its requirements in order to ensure Guyana’s preparedness for the 4th round by 2022.
Attorney General, Basil Williams, in his opening remarks emphasized that the main work of the CFATF is mutual evaluations. He expressed the need for Guyana to work towards successfully exiting the 4th round of mutual evaluations and not fall back into the abyss of being a blacklisted country. The Attorney General solicited the cooperation of the reporting entities present at the meeting to realise this goal.
Director of Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Matthew Langevine, described the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as an inter-governmental body established by the Ministers of its Member jurisdictions, with associate members such as the CFATF. He explained the process of the 4th round mutual evaluations which assesses a country’s Technical Compliance and Effectiveness.
Director of Bank Supervision Department of the Bank of Guyana, Ramnarine Lal, provided in detail, the obligations and responsibilities of all reporting entities while Head of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), Sydney James, Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Teshanna Lake, provided insight into their respective roles and functions of SOCU and the office of the DPP.
It was repeatedly emphasised by the panelists, that the results based nature of the 4th round, is the yard stick by which effectiveness is measured and country ratings are applied.
The outreach saw a large turnout from various reporting entities within the Port Mourant to New Amsterdam area of East Berbice, Region Six. The participants were appreciative of the exercise and suggested that similar exercises be conducted in the future.