Anti-money laundering mechanism to scrutinise non-financial businesses

Last Updated on Thursday, 16 July 2026, 23:32 by Writer

Lawyers, accountants, auto dealers and pawnbrokers are among those to come under scrutiny for financial crimes through the Guyana Compliance Commission (GCC) that is being established, Attorney General Anil Nandlall said Thursday.

“They do a lot of transactions that have money laundering implications,” he told Demerara Waves Online News.

He said the GCC, which would be reporting to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), is expected to be fully operational before the conference of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) scheduled for next November.

Mr Nandlall said Guyana was slated to provide an update on its implementation of recommendations by the fourth round of mutual evaluation.

Demerara Waves Online News was informed that the way was now clear for Caribbean countries to set up similar mechanisms after the United Kingdom’s Privy Council ruled in Jamaica that lawyers could not disclose information about their clients to anyone but that their duty to the law is greater.

“They don’t have to say what their clients tell them but once they conduct a transaction of a particular type and volume, they have to report it. That is the way the world is running,” he said.

Governed by a law, the GCC’s board has already been appointed and is headed by former director of the New Building Society Anil Beharry. The commission would be staffed by eight persons who have been recently approved.

The Attorney General pointed to the GCC’s establishment at the opening of the 9th Assets Recovery lnter-Agency Network of the Caribbean (ARIN-CARIB) Annual General Meeting on Wednesday.

“This represents a significant step forward in strengthening Guyana’s supervisory framework for designated non-financial businesses and professions. As the Commission continues to expand its operational capacity, it will play an increasingly important role in protecting the integrity of Guyana’s financial system through effective supervision, enhanced compliance monitoring and stronger engagement with reporting entities,” he said.

Mr Nandlall said the government also planned to establish an appropriate supervisory framework for virtual assets and virtual asset service providers as “our legislative reforms continue to progress in accordance with international standards.”