Guyana expects to take a new anti-money-laundering bill to Parliament before the end of 2026, replacing legislation enacted 17 years ago and giving greater emphasis to freezing, restraining and confiscating assets linked to criminal activity.
Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC, said the proposed legislation is in its final stage. The government intends to modernize Guyana’s asset-recovery system and strengthen the powers available during investigations and prosecutions involving money laundering and terrorist financing.
The shift would place increased attention on criminal proceeds rather than relying principally on imprisonment and fines. Authorities argue that convicted offenders can preserve control of businesses, property or other wealth while serving a sentence unless the state separately identifies and recovers assets obtained through illegal activity.
Nandlall said the reforms will address detention of assets, freezing orders and forfeiture. Judges, magistrates, investigators and prosecutors would require specialized training because applications to restrain or confiscate property involve legal questions different from an ordinary criminal trial.
The government has also signaled that it intends to pursue unpaid fines and use existing legal procedures to recover property where evidence shows it represents the proceeds of crime. Officials previously cited court-authorized bank-account freezes and gold seizures as examples of measures already being used.
Guyana’s existing Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act dates to 2009 and has been amended several times. The replacement bill is being prepared as the country’s rapidly expanding oil, construction, real-estate, gold and financial sectors increase both the value and complexity of transactions passing through the economy.
The reform also follows the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force’s 2024 evaluation of Guyana. That peer-review process examined whether the country possessed the required laws and whether its agencies were effectively applying them. International standards emphasize that passing legislation alone is insufficient without investigations, prosecutions, confiscation outcomes and coordination among regulators and law-enforcement bodies.
Nandlall said the government is preparing for the next round of regional evaluation and review. However, the draft bill has not yet been published, meaning the precise safeguards, evidentiary tests, appeal procedures and treatment of assets owned jointly or by third parties cannot yet be assessed.
Any forfeiture framework must distinguish property proven to be connected to crime from legitimately acquired assets and provide affected people with access to the courts. The government has not said when public consultations will begin or whether the bill will permit confiscation without a criminal conviction in any circumstances.
