Financial Crime on the Rise in Guyana: Government Unveils Five-Year Strategy to Combat Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing

The government of Guyana has unveiled a five-year national strategy to combat money laundering (ML) and the financing of terrorism (TF). The strategy aims to enhance the capabilities of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and improve investigating and prosecuting competencies in the country.

Key Objectives

The National Policy and Strategy identifies eight key objectives, including:

Ensuring policy coordination among government agencies
Strengthening legislative frameworks to combat ML and TF
Enhancing FIU capabilities through training and IT tools
Developing cooperation among domestic authorities
Improving regional and international cooperation

Enhancing Internal Capabilities

The strategy focuses on enhancing the internal capabilities of the FIU, including:

Increasing and training staff
Requesting access to additional databases
Developing IT tools to facilitate analytical capabilities
Conducting strategic analyses to identify trends and patterns

Capacity Enhancement for Prosecutions and Convictions

The Financial Crimes Investigation Unit (FCIU) will take several actions to enhance its capacity, including:

Hiring additional financial investigators and attorneys
Providing specialized training
Increasing use of external experts
Improving investigating and prosecuting competencies

To address Guyana’s porous borders, the strategy aims to:

Enhance border control through increased resources, improved technology, and adequate training
Ensure effective domestic information sharing for enforcing tax laws
Review and update processes for implementing targeted financial sanctions
Sign MoUs with competent authorities and states to facilitate information sharing and analysis

International Cooperation

The strategy emphasizes the importance of international cooperation in combating financial crime. Guyana plans to:

Review its process for implementing targeted financial sanctions
Update lists of designated persons to ensure immediate applicability of international sanctions
Sign MoUs with competent authorities and states to facilitate information sharing and analysis

Beneficial Ownership

The strategy also emphasizes the importance of focusing on beneficial ownership, a key requirement by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Guyana plans to:

Upgrade and digitize legal records
Actively collect and track beneficial ownership information of legal persons and arrangements
Amend laws to capture all forms of businesses required to provide BO information

Recent Efforts

As part of its efforts to secure convictions for financial crimes, the government has recently charged several individuals with money laundering and issued bulletins for others. The five-year strategy is a significant step towards addressing the growing menace of financial crime in Guyana and ensuring that the country complies with international standards.