VZCZCXRO8730
PP RUEHGR
DE RUEHGE #1075/01 3451119
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 111119Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6060
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GEORGETOWN 001075 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR INL/LP KBROWN AND PWELZANT, WHA/CAR JROSHOLT, S/CT, EEB 
JUSTICE FOR AFMLS, OIA, AND OPDAT 
TREASURY FOR FINCEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM EFIN KTFN SNAR GY
SUBJECT: INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL STRATEGY REPORT, PART II 
 
REF: STATE 137250 
 
¶1. (U) Post presents its 2008 International Narcotics Control 
Strategy Report, Part II, Money Laundering and Financial Crimes. 
 
Begin text: 
 
Guyana is neither an important regional nor an offshore financial 
center, nor does it have any free trade zones.  Money laundering is 
perceived as a serious problem, and has been linked to trafficking 
in drugs, firearms and persons, as well as to corruption and fraud. 
The Government of Guyana (GOG) made no arrests or prosecutions for 
money laundering in 2007. Guyana currently has inadequate legal and 
enforcement mechanisms to combat money laundering, although 
legislation tabled in Parliament would significantly enhance these 
mechanisms. 
 
The Money Laundering Prevention Act of 2000 (The Act) criminalizes 
money laundering related to narcotics trafficking, illicit 
trafficking of firearms, extortion, corruption, bribery, fraud, 
counterfeiting and forgery. The Act does not specifically cover the 
financing of terrorism or all serious crimes in its list of 
offenses. Banks are required to report suspicious transactions to 
the GOG's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), and records of 
suspicious transaction reports (STRs) must be kept for six years, 
but the GOG does not release statistics on the number of STRs 
received by the FIU, despite the requirement to make these 
statistics available to relevant authorities as mandated by the 
Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF).  The Act also 
requires that the cross-border transportation of currency exceeding 
$10,000 be reported to the Customs Administration, but does not 
allow for the provision of this information to the FIU or other law 
enforcement bodies. The Act establishes the Guyana Revenue 
Authority, the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit, the Attorney General, 
the Director for Public Prosecutions and the FIU as the authorities 
responsible for investigating financial crimes. 
 
The GOG's anti-money laundering regime is rendered ineffective by 
other major structural weaknesses of the Money Laundering Prevention 
Act of 2000.  While the Act provides for the seizure of assets 
derived as proceeds of crime, guidelines for implementing seizures 
and forfeitures have never been established.  Conviction for a 
predicate offense is considered necessary before a money laundering 
conviction can be obtained, and the list of such predicate offenses 
is cursory.  The sharing of essential law enforcement data is not 
mandated by the 2000 Act; neither does the FIU have the authority to 
exchange information with its foreign counterparts.  These 
limitations collectively stifle the FIU's analytical and 
investigative capabilities, and as a result there have been no money 
laundering prosecutions since the FIU was established in 2003. 
 
In order to augment the tools available to the GOG's anti-money 
laundering authorities, the FIU drafted legislation entitled the 
Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill 
¶2007.  The bill provides for the identification, freezing, and 
seizure of proceeds of crime and terrorism; establishes 
comprehensive powers for the prosecution of money laundering, 
terrorist financing, and other financial crimes; requires reporting 
entities to take preventive measures to help combat money laundering 
and terrorist financing; provides for the civil forfeiture of assets 
and expands the scope of the money laundering offense; and mandates 
the accessibility of all relevant data among law enforcement 
agencies. The legislation provides for oversight of export 
industries, the insurance industry, real estate, and alternative 
remittance systems, and spells out the penalties for non-compliance. 
 The bill also establishes the FIU as an independent body that 
answers only to the President, and defines in exhaustive detail its 
role and powers.  The draft legislation was tabled in Parliament in 
late 2007, but its chances of passage in the near term are unclear. 
 
 
In January 2007, the National Assembly passed the Gambling 
Prevention (Amendment) Bill, which legalizes casino gambling. The 
bill establishes a Gaming Authority authorized to issue casino 
licenses to new luxury hotel or resort complexes with a minimum of 
150 rooms. Vocal opposition to the bill from religious groups, 
opposition parties, and the public included concerns that casino 
gambling would provide a front for money launderers.  No casinos 
have yet opened in Guyana. 
 
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Bank of Guyana continue to 
assist U.S. efforts to combat terrorist financing by working towards 
compliance with relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions 
(UNSCRs). In 2001 the Bank of Guyana, the sole financial regulator 
as designated by the Financial Institutions Act of March 1995, 
issued orders to all licensed financial institutions expressly 
instructing the freezing of all financial assets of terrorists, 
 
GEORGETOWN 00001075  002 OF 002 
 
 
terrorist organizations, and individuals and entities associated 
with terrorists and their organizations. Guyana has no domestic laws 
authorizing the freezing of terrorist assets, but the government 
created a special committee on the implementation of UNSCRs, 
co-chaired by the Head of the Presidential Secretariat and the 
Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. To date the 
procedures have not been tested, as no terrorist assets have been 
identified in Guyana. The FIU director also disseminates the names 
of suspected terrorists and terrorist organizations listed on the UN 
1267 Sanctions Committee's consolidated list to relevant financial 
institutions. 
 
Guyana is a member of the OAS Inter-American Drug Abuse Control 
Commission (OAS/CICAD) Experts Group to Control Money Laundering and 
the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF). Guyana underwent 
its second CFATF mutual evaluation in 2004, and the results of the 
evaluation were presented at the CFATF plenary in October 2006. The 
mutual evaluation team found the GOG to be noncompliant or 
materially noncompliant with approximately half of the CFATF 
Recommendations. 
 
Guyana is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention and the UN 
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. Guyana has not 
signed the UN International Convention for the Suppression of the 
Financing of Terrorism or the UN Convention against Corruption. The 
GOG has signed, but not yet ratified, the Inter-American Convention 
against Terrorism. Guyana's FIU is one of the few in the region that 
is not a member of the Egmont Group, and no change in that status is 
anticipated until Guyana's anti-money laundering laws have been 
modernized. 
 
End text. 
 
¶2. (U) Post POC is Pol/Econ Officer Rolf Olson. 
 
ROBINSON