The Ministry of Natural Resource recently issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for consultancy services to support the Secretariat of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in implementing a Beneficial Ownership Roadmap.
For further information, including the Request for Proposal Package which includes details concerning the scope of work as well as submission instructions and requirements, interested companies are asked to email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected] “”).
Consultants are also required to seal the original and electronic PDF copy of the proposals in an envelope and should follow the form given in the “Supplementary Information for Consultants.” Furthermore, the proposals are required to be sent in not later than 09:00 hours on January 30, 2024 at said address: The Chairman, National Procurement and Tender Administration Board, Ministry of Finance, Main and Urquhart Streets, Georgetown, Guyana.
Guyana is bound by the 2019 EITI Standard to ensure companies publicly disclose beneficial ownership information. EITI recommends that implementing countries like Guyana maintain a publicly available register of the beneficial owners of the corporate entity(ies) that apply for or hold a participating interest in an exploration or production oil, gas or mining license or contract, including the identity(ies) of their beneficial owner(s), the level of ownership and details about how ownership or control is exercised.
Guyana has several pieces of legislation which support EITI’s 2019 requirements on beneficial ownership.
The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) (No.2) Act (2015)224 which amends section 2 (1) of the original Act (2009) provides a clear definition of beneficial ownership in Guyana as being: “ownership by a natural person or persons who ultimately exercise individually or jointly voting rights representing at least twenty-five percent of the total shares, or otherwise have ownership rights of a legal entity; or ownership by a natural person or persons who ultimately owns or controls a customer or the person on whose behalf a transaction is being conducted and includes those persons who exercise ultimate effective control over a legal person or arrangement.”
Section 535 of the Companies Act (1998)225 states that: “Beneficial interest or beneficial ownership includes ownership through a trustee, legal representative, agent or other intermediary.”
Additionally, the AML/CFT Act (2009)226 defines a politically exposed persons as follows: “any individual who is or has been entrusted with prominent public functions on behalf of a state, including a Head of State or of government, senior politician, senior government, judicial or military officials, senior executives of state-owned corporations, important political party officials, including family members or close associates of the politically exposed person whether the person is resident in Guyana or not”.
On 18 July 2018, the Guyana Multi-Stakeholder Group published a roadmap for disclosing beneficial ownership information. The Multi-Stakeholder Group has established milestones and deadlines towards this end.
