HGP Nightly News – Attorney General Anil Nandlall says Guyana is moving to rewrite its anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism laws, warning that the country must be equipped with stronger and clearer legal tools as organised crime, terrorist financing and money laundering become more complex threats.
Speaking at the opening of the PACE Justice Regional Programme Judicial Training on Criminal Trials and Appeals, Nandlall said a new comprehensive AML/CFT bill is already being drafted and will replace the current legislation. He explained that while the existing law is not fundamentally defective, it has been amended so many times over the years that it now reads in a fragmented way and can create problems of interpretation.
“Not that the one that we have is bad, but we have cut and paste over the years so many things that it reads in a disjointed way,” Nandlall said, arguing that the time has come for a more coherent and modern legal framework. He added that a consultant is already working on the draft bill as Government pushes ahead with the reform.
The move comes as Guyana begins preparing for its next mutual evaluation exercise in 2027, a process that will test how well the country is meeting international standards in tackling financial crime. Nandlall said Guyana is not starting from a weak position, noting that in the last assessment conducted in 2024 by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force, the country recorded the highest score among independent Caribbean territories.
Even so, he made it clear that a strong previous performance is no reason for complacency. In his view, the legal framework still has to be revamped to keep pace with shifting global standards and the increasingly sophisticated nature of financial crime.
Nandlall also used the occasion to stress the seriousness of AML/CFT offences, particularly for members of the judiciary. He said these are not ordinary criminal matters, but some of the widest and most powerful offences in the law. “The offences there are not an ordinary run of the mill offences,” he said. “Money laundering is possibly one of the widest offences on the statute books.”
He further pointed to the extraordinary powers contained in the legislation, including detention and forfeiture before a conviction is secured. According to Nandlall, these powers are “indeed intrusive” when compared with ordinary legislation, and he warned that while they are necessary, they must still be exercised in a way that remains consistent with the Constitution.
The Attorney General also underscored that these laws are not being shaped in a vacuum. He said AML/CFT legislation is guided by international principles and standards developed by global bodies responsible for monitoring financial crime and regulatory compliance. That, he suggested, makes it essential for Guyana to ensure its own laws remain modern, clear and aligned with the wider international framework.
Taken together, Nandlall’s remarks signalled that Guyana’s fight against money laundering and terrorist financing is entering a new legislative phase, one aimed not only at cleaning up the wording of the law, but at strengthening the country’s ability to respond to some of the most serious financial crimes on the books.
