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As long as you are on a political party’s list of candidates, you have automatically subjected yourself to the highest category of compliance risk under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act (AML/CFT). This classification designates you as a Politically Exposed Person (PEP).
The AML/CFT Act defines a PEP to include not only the individual but also their family members and close associates. This risk is further heightened if you are affiliated with a political party whose principal founder is the subject of one of the most severe international financial sanctions—namely, by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). A simple Google search reveals that only about 17,000 individuals and entities out of over 7 billion people globally have been sanctioned by OFAC. Clearly, such a designation carries serious and far-reaching consequences.
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Guyana was already on the brink of being blacklisted. In 2014, the country was grey-listed by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) due to national-level breaches in updating the AML legislative framework in line with FATF recommendations. We came dangerously close to being blacklisted. See FATF reference here: https://www.fatf-gafi.org/en/countries/detail/Guyana.html….
This situation arose under a minority government, where the opposition refused to cooperate in passing the necessary amendments. This legislative deadlock was one of the main reasons for the 2015 snap elections—to avoid blacklisting. Had we been blacklisted, Guyana could have faced a fate similar to Venezuela’s: complete exclusion from the international financial system. This would have crippled our ability to pay for imports or export local goods.
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The claim that the government is victimizing the sanctioned party and its affiliates is entirely unfounded. In fact, the government refrained from exercising its full authority under the AML/CFT Act. They could have frozen all financial assets of the sanctioned individual immediately upon the OFAC ruling. Instead, they allowed him to close his accounts and withdraw his funds.
I urge everyone to read the AML/CFT Act—particularly Part IV, Sections 38–66—to understand the legal framework and the government’s measured response in respect of the freezing of assets of a sanctioned entity or individual for breaches thereunder.