GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Apr 23, CMC – The Guyana government has expressed a “level of surprise and disappointment” at the 2025 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) released by the United States saying that many of the claims made by public officials were not backed by evidence and contradict assessments by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF).
In a lengthy statement on the issue, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, said he recalled ahead of the publication of the INCS Report regarding Guyana’s anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) framework and capabilities, a questionnaire being circulated from the publishers “, and large volumes of critical information were supplied, but were unfortunately omitted in the report.
“There is no need for one to speculate in relation to Guyana’s AML/CFT credentials. These were recently scrupulously examined over a period of 18 months, from September 2022 to June 2024, in a mutual evaluation exercise conducted by the most premier regulatory body in this hemisphere , CFATF.
“In this process, every aspect of Guyana’s AML/CFT framework was critically scrutinized, including our legislative framework, our administrative processes, our investigative capabilities, and our law enforcement and prosecutorial capacities,” Nandlall said.
He said additionally, various critical sectors were interrogated, including, the mining, banking and real estate sectors, revenue collection, gaming authorities, and the Commercial and Deeds Registries.
“The Commercial Registry has exercised various powers -primarily, the right of refusal and the power of issuing warnings, and ultimately striking companies from the register for failure to provide basic and beneficial ownership information, which has resulted in significant improvement of compliance by companies, with over 2000 companies filing BO information from 2023 to present.
“Even Guyana’s inter-agency as well as inter-country cooperation mechanisms were examined. Issues such as beneficial ownership were specifically evaluated. In the end, Guyana was given a clean bill of health. In fact, Guyana fared better than most of its Caribbean counterparts.”
Nandlall said that significantly, this positive appraisal comes from the appropriate and authorised global regulator for this hemisphere, and therefore,” in my respectful view, constitutes the authoritative and conclusive diagnosis of Guyana’s AML/CFT credentials.
“The INCS Report should have taken guidance from CFATF’s mutual assessment of Guyana, which is publicly available on CFATF’s website. CFATF’s assessment of Guyana received the approbation of the Financial Action Task Force – the global regulator of this sector.”
Nandlall said that last month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also examined Guyana’s AML/CFT’s framework and performance and that “the findings of that body are strikingly different from the INSCR Report”.
The Attorney General said that coming out of the CFATF’s “successful mutual evaluation process, Guyana remains deeply committed to continue to vigilantly implement all global recommendations and make such legislative, policy and administrative changes that may be necessary to continue to strengthen our AML/CFT capacity and readiness to battle organized crime and corruption”.
He said currently, the AML/CFT National Coordination Committee, which he chairs, “is fervently working to implement recommendations made during the Mutual Evaluation exercise as well as to rectify the identified deficiencies” and that later this year, Guyana will be expected to provide a status update report to CFATF on this ongoing work.
He said any statement linking money laundering (ML) to corruption amongst public officials, must be substantiated by empirical and anecdotal evidence, noting that in many of these cases, proportionate and appropriate actions were taken against the individuals.
“For the report to attempt to link ML to holders of public offices and corruption without citing the cases which have led to this conclusion, is simply speculative.
“Guyana has repeatedly demonstrated its intolerance to corruption, especially relating to public officials, once the evidence is made available. Guyana has won the Best-Case Award in the Caribbean region for its efforts in fighting money-laundering and anti-corruption, particularly in relation to actions taken against former Assistant Commissioner of Police Calvin Brutus,” Nandlall added.
He said in its report, Washington made reference to the OFAC sanctioned persons and companies, saying”it is a fact of public notoriety that upon the publication of that announcement, the government of Guyana made a public statement that it will engage the United States’
“Importantly, government took immediate action in disengaging with the sanctioned persons/ companies in relation to extant relations in certain sectors in order to insulate Guyana’s financial system form any adverse consequences flowing from those sanctions. The Guyana Revenue Authority, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) are currently collaborating and investigating these matters.”
He said the latest INCS Report has recognised that in comparison with other countries in the report, Guyana has implemented robust structures to detect, prevent and deter ML.
“It is common ground that government has no control over the determination of cases by the Judiciary. We adhere strictly to judicial independence and the doctrine of separation of powers.
“The AML/CFT structure can ensure that the matters are investigated, charges are filed and evidence presented. We have no control in respect of the determination of these matters,” Nandlall said, noting that since coming to office in 2020, the Irfaan Ali government “the volume of investigations and charges have greatly increased.
“here are currently 298 ML charges, with one conviction obtained in ML, whilst in other instances, persons have been convicted of other offences, such as obtaining by false pretense.
“Additionally, given that ML matters are complex and usually involve detailed financial analysis and reporting, it is not unusual for cases to take some time to be completed, especially given the importance of ensuring that ML is prevented.”
He said the Specialised Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) engages with regional organisations such as the Barbados-based Regional Security System (RSS) as does the Financial Intelligence Unit adding “we anticipate that with properly conducted trials, convictions will be borne out for persons charged.
“Law enforcement has also been using tools related to combatting ML, such as freezing, restraint and asset forfeiture, to ensure that assets are not disposed of or dissipated by charged and or accused persons, and upon conviction, these assets can be made available to the State to further improve the crime fighting capabilities of the country.”
CMC/gt/ir/2025