Minister of State Dawn Hastings-Williams yesterday morning reiterated the Government’s commitment to adhering to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act and called on participants at the Gaming Authorities Stakeholder Forum to continue fostering greater dialogue on the legislation with the view of ensuring positive action and results.
The Forum is aimed at familiarising stakeholders with the AML/CFT Act in preparation for the Mutual Evaluation by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF). It was themed ‘Guyana’s Fourth Round Mutual Evaluation and Gaming Sector’.
Minister Hastings-Williams, in delivering her address, applauded the efforts being made by the Gaming Authority, noting that the Stakeholder Forum is pursuant to the mandate set out by the government with the passage of the AML/CFT Act. She noted that the government is pleased with the steps that the Authority is taking to ensure that the rule of law is enforced in the gaming industry.
“The government supports you and your members in its endeavours and echoes the call for there to be adherence to the law in this emerging gaming [industry],” she said.
Referencing President David Granger’s charge in his address at the opening ceremony of the 46th Plenary Meeting of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force in November 2017, Minister Hastings-Williams reiterated that the Caribbean today “is fighting a war against financial ‘privateers’ to preserve the integrity of its institutions”. She expressed confidence that Guyana’s robust legislation can detect financial crime threats and the activities related to those crimes and can successfully prosecute the perpetrators of those crimes.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer of the Gaming Authority Lloyd Moore said the Forum discussed the Gaming Authority’s role as mandated. ‘The Stakeholder Forum allows the stakeholders [to] broaden their understating of the roles, responsibilities and objectives to ensure that Guyana is successful at the Mutual Evaluation,” he said.
This is the second Forum held in Guyana and the first in a series of information fora that seeks to enlighten stakeholders on the preparation of the sector for the Fourth Round of Mutual Evaluation by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) slated for the first quarter of 2022.
Director and Chairman of the Gaming Authority, Christine King and Roysdale Forde, respectively, also attended forum which was held at the Pegasus Hotel.
