Gov't committed to fighting Money-laundering 'cancer - Kowlessar
Stabroek News
May 25, 2004
The government is determined to wipe out money laundering which has the potential to undermine legitimate financial institutions and encourages criminality, says Finance Minister Saisnarine Kowlessar.
"Failure to contain this cancer will mean the erosion of economic efficiency as resources no longer flow towards the areas of greatest social need...," said Kowlessar at the opening of an Anti-Money Laundering Training Seminar for directors and senior managers in Guyana's financial community. The seminar's objective is to assist Guyana to further develop its anti-money laundering regulations and enforcement capacity.
The Bank of Guyana in collaboration with the Caribbean Anti-Money Laundering Programme (CALP) is hosting the seminar at Le Meridien Pegasus.
Kowlessar said the government has shown its support for the suppression of money laundering by enacting the Money Laundering Preven-tion Act of 2000 (MLPA), obtaining membership to the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) and by the establishment of a Financial Investigative Unit (FIU).
Fitz-Roy Drayton, CALP's Legal/Judicial Adviser said it is estimated that some US$50 billion is laundered throughout the Caribbean region and this has the potential to distort the region's economies.
The Government Informa-tion Agency (GINA) in a release yesterday said the Caribbean has the largest concentration of offshore activities in the world and serves as a major transshipment point for cocaine.