…in suspected money laundering transactions

ATTORNEY General Basil Williams on Thursday night disclosed that the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) continues to receive referrals from the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and is conducting investigations into money laundering offences involving over $900B.
The AG was at the time making his contributions to this year’s budget debates in the National Assembly. Only recently, Director of the FIU, Matthew Langevine told this newspaper that his unit continue to work together in monitoring new cases of money laundering with improved intelligence analysis.

The FIU Director said that the unit has had a few new cases which have been passed on to SOCU. While he did not give statistics at the time, he told the Guyana Chronicle that the FIU remains committed to its original task of keeping money laundering at bay. “We’ve been working closely and reporting as required to SOCU. There have been a number of cases that we have been working and adding new cases,” Langevine told the Guyana Chronicle.

Anti-corruption fight
Meanwhile, Williams said the APNU/AFC Government remains robust in its fight against corruption which has had a debilitating effect on the economy of Guyana. “SOCU in relation to financial crimes has conduct of the investigations of offences deriving from forensic audits of Government Ministries Departments and Agencies under the last Administration, involving billions of dollars of tax payers’ money. It is in this connection that Special Prosecutors were appointed by the Government to prosecute persons charged with stealing state assets. Before embarking on any such prosecution, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) issues a fiat to empower them,”

Turning his attention to Guyana’s standing in the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), Williams said, “Guyana, like the Phoenix, has risen from the ashes of its own despair; from the abyss of CFATF’s reproach, to rising to the head of this twenty –five member country organization of Caricom, Central and South American Countries.”

He made mention of his election as the new Chairman of the CFATF grouping, noting that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) styled reporting body (F.S.R.B) and a regional arm of the FATF, CFATF’s remit is to combat Money Laundering/Terrorist Financing and Proliferation Financing (ML/TF/PF) to protect the global and financial economy from dirty money and assist its members to be in compliance with the FATF’s recommendations and immediate outcomes.

Guyana chairs CFATF
“Mr. Speaker, we successfully hosted the CFATF’s 46th Plenary and Working Group Meetings and shaped the work programme for Guyana’s year at the helm. His Excellency President David Arthur Granger must be commended for his unwavering support of Guyana’s commitment to implementing the said recommendations and outcomes,” Williams said. He added that his government introduced an AML/CFT Coordinating Committee (AML/CFT,CC) comprising supervisory entities, including Bank of Guyana, Guyana Revenue Authority, Director of Public Prosecutions, Special Organized Crime Unit, Financial Intelligence Unit and the Attorney General Chambers and Ministry of Legal Affairs. This committee is chaired by the AGMLA.

However, he cautioned that”… We cannot sit on our laurels as we come up for mutual evaluation in 2022 in the Fourth Round of Mutual Evaluation which requires technical compliance and effectiveness in implementing the FATF recommendations and immediate outcomes. Mr. Speaker, the government will pursue institutional strengthening of the staff of the AML/CFT regime in Guyana and will host an Assessors Training Seminar in January, 2018 and a Judges and Prosecutors Conference shortly thereafter.”

SARA outreach
Additionally, Williams told the House that in keeping with the principle enshrined in Article 13 of the Constitution of inclusionary democracy and participation of citizens, this year, the Attorney General’s Chambers held consultations and sensitization seminars with the public on the State Assets Recovery Act 2017, the Witness Protection Bill and the Protected Disclosures (Whistleblower) Bill to raise awareness on the Government’s anti-corruption policies and on the protection afforded witnesses and other persons who assist in the investigation and prosecution of perpetrators.

He reminded that the State Assets Recovery Act of 2017 was passed in Parliament on 12 April 2017 and assented to by President David Granger on Thursday 4 May 2017. The Act created the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) in consonance with the United Nations Convention Against Corruption 2003, headed by a Director who is a corporation sole to recover through civil proceedings State property unlawfully acquired by a public official or any other person; to provide for investigations leading to the granting by the High Court of Restraint and Civil Recovery Orders in respect of unlawfully acquired property; to engage in international cooperation in the recovery of stolen assets of State within the contemplation of the Act, and for related matters.

The Attorney General said President Granger attended the Addis Ababa Financing for Development Conference in July 2015, as well as the September 2015 United Nations Summit where Guyana signed on to the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. The Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA) discussed global efforts to incorporate “recovery of stolen public assets” (StPAR) as a central feature of domestic resource mobilization, particularly for developing countries.

The Conference committed “to making the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) an effective instrument to deter, detect, prevent, and counter corruption and bribery, prosecute those involved in corrupt activities, and recover and return stolen assets to their country of origin.”

The AAAA promised to encourage the international community to develop good practices on asset return… indicating its support for the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative of the United Nations and the World Bank, and other international initiatives that support the recovery of stolen assets. SARA is now fully operationalized and has embarked on its mission, the AG said.