Guyana is now a member of the Egmont Group, an international association comprising Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) from around the world that, among other things, facilitates intelligence exchange and cooperation on money laundering.

This was revealed in a statement from the Attorney General Chambers and Legal Affairs Ministry on Saturday.
“On February 1, 2024, Guyana’s Financial Intelligence Unit’s application for membership of the Egmont Group or International Association of Financial Intelligence Units was granted at the organisation’s recent meeting in Malta,” the missive stated.
In addition to Guyana, the FIUs of Oman, Kenya, and Timor-Leste were also inducted into the association.
Consequently, the Egmont Group now has 174 countries that can cooperate via a secure web portal to exchange intelligence on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) matters.

There has been talk of Guyana joining the group for years, but the application to join the organisation was only submitted in 2023.
At the Egmont Group’s recent meeting in Malta, Guyana was represented by the Director of the local Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Matthew Langevine.
Guyana’s application was sponsored by the FIUs of Trinidad and Tobago and the British Virgin Islands and was supported by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF).
Since taking office in 2020, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has made significant progress in its anti-corruption efforts. To this end, it has implemented robust measures to strengthen its anti-corruption framework including improving its AML/CFT architecture.
A delegation from the FIUs of Trinidad and Tobago and the British Virgin Islands visited Guyana in April of last year, during which they were updated on the various pieces of legislation currently in draft to strengthen and update Guyana’s AML/CFT regime and to meet the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) international standards.
These include key amendments to the principal AML/CFT Act, a Bill to create an omnibus agency as a supervisory authority for unsupervised entities, and the Real Estate Bill that was passed last August, to provide the regulatory framework for real estate agents and developers.

In September 2023, Guyana underwent an onsite evaluation and examination of its financial sector by CFATF. A critical element of Guyana’s fourth round of mutual evaluation was the enactment of the Real Estate Bill. The draft Real Estate Agents & Brokers Bill was prepared in consultation with the various stakeholders in the local real estate industry and was published for public feedback, before its passage in the National Assembly in August.
Another initiative aimed at addressing the gaps in Guyana’s financial sector in accordance with the AML/CFT stipulations was the establishment of a Compliance Commission, that will supervise the operations of agencies and/or sectors in the country that do not have a direct regulatory body. The Compliance Commission Bill 2023 was also passed.
Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC, had disclosed during his 2024 Budget debate presentation last month that the CFATF review was successful.
The Government’s anti-money laundering strategies are laid out in its five-year plan, which was released by the Attorney General’s Chambers last year. According to the strategy, laws and regulations will be developed and revised during that time in line with international standards.

While there are existing AML/CFT laws, more can be done to strengthen or clarify the legislative framework, to better aid Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) to carry out their duties. The deadline given to complete the updates and revisions to this legal framework is the fourth quarter of 2025.

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The delegation includes, Dr. Gobind Ganga, Governor of the Central Bank, Mr. Matthew Langevine, Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Ms. Alicia Williams Head of Compliance -FIU, Mr. Karim Baksh – Head of the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU), Ms. Natasha Backer – Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions and Mr. Rommel St Hill, Anti Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Officer in the Attorney General’s Office.

Due to the Covid 19 pandemic this is the first Plenary and Working Group meetings by this body since November 2019. The Plenary which opens on Wednesday November 30, 2022, will follow the working group meetings such as the Heads of FIU forum, a working group of FATF issues, International Cooperation Review Group, Steering Group, and CFATF Risks Trends and Methods Group.

At these meetings, countries who are in the assessment process get the opportunity to discuss key issues identified in their Draft Mutual Evaluation Report; countries that have already been assessed under the fourth-round process provide updates on progress made since their evaluation; delegates are provided updates on outcomes for the FATF various meetings, and on new and emerging money laundering threats in the region.

These meetings also provide opportunities for member states to discuss the implementation of new recommendations and strategies and difficulties that may arise in relation thereto. Cooperation and the building of institutional relationships for exchange of information that may assist in new or ongoing investigations are enhanced. Guyana’s attendance at these meetings is very important, especially as the country prepares for its fourth-round mutual evaluation which is scheduled for 2023. It gives the delegates the opportunity to benefit from the discussions of the mutual evaluation of two of its close neighbors, Suriname and Venezuela whose Reports are currently being discussed and will be featured prominently at the Plenary. Both countries have been flagged with various identified deficiencies.

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Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Mr. Matthew Langevine says the entity has received over 75 reports of “romance scams” where women were cheated out of millions of dollars through social media and dating sites.

Speaking with DPI on Thursday, the FIU Head cautioned Guyanese women to be wary of falling prey to fraud. He said women have become the main targets of the scams, which have increased since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.

“There was a very interesting one that happened recently. A young lady met a gentleman online, and after a few weeks, he offered to send a package to her. She was contacted, and was advised by a local representative that the package had arrived,” Mr. Langevine said.

He said the woman was instructed to pay some “duties” to a local bank account. She was reportedly contacted another time and was told that the value of the package was high and she needed make a second payment in excess of US$400.

The FIU Director said the woman was told that because customs had checked the package and found US$35,000 cash, she had to make another payment. He said she was warned that if she refused, she would be charged.  The woman reportedly managed to gather US$7,500 and made the payment.

“So, they give you all kinds of reasons why you need to make these payments, and some persons, out of fear or out of the desire to benefit from these promises, would go all out to make these payments and eventually, until the end, they will realise that they’re scammed.

What happens in the end is that once these payments are made, you lose contact with the individual. The number that you would have been making contact with them on, it’s suddenly disconnected. You’re unable to make contact and your losses become evident,” he explained.

Asked whether lost funds were recovered, Mr. Langevine said there are no such cases. He said it is unfortunate since the country is also struggling with the pandemic, which has lessened persons income.

The FIU issued the warning today after recording a sustained uptick in cases of persons tricked into giving away millions of dollars through banks and other financial institutions.

Mr. Langevine said the COVID-19 pandemic has seen more persons staying at home for longer periods. This has led to more virtual relationships with fraudsters taking advantage of the victim’s trust.

The FIU has concluded that typical romance scams are operated by local and foreign collaborators. To this end, the unit has been collaborating with similar agencies across the Region to address the issue. Mr. Langevine said banks and money transfer agencies are also key collaborators in the fight against these types of financial crimes. The Unit is working with them to ensure the staff can detect and prevent financial scams.

It is also collaborating with the Special Organised Crime Unit to ensure cases are properly investigated.

The FIU has published a typology on its website fiu.gov.gy where persons can acquaint themselves with characteristics of financial scams and how they can be avoided.

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