Man sentenced to 4 years for trafficking...

From page 19 $200,000 and ordered to pay $6,300,000 in restitution to the victims.

According to the State’s facts, in November 2020, one of the victims met an individual in Trelawney, Jamaica, who indicated to him that Browne had some farming work for him to do in Kara Kara Creek, Guyana and that he was willing to pay US$5000 for the work to be done.

It was stated that the first victim then informed the sec- ond victim about the opportunity, and together they arranged with Browne, who promised to facilitate all their travel expenses. They then left Jamaica on December 12, 2020.

The facts stated that when they arrived in Guyana, Browne instructed them to inform immigration that they would only be spending two weeks.

Upon arriving at the campsite at Kara Kara Creek, Browne informed them that they would be spending six months at the campsite and confiscated their passports.

The victims recounted that from the date of entry to April 24, 2021, they worked at the Kara Kara camp but never received any compensation from Browne.

The victims added that Browne would visit periodically and demand that they work more diligently. He also continuously promised to pay them but never did. The duo stated that they could only contact their family on Browne’s phone when he visited. They recounted being unable to travel from the campsite and related that for the last three weeks, no one visited them, which caused their supplies to run low.

Eventually, the victims were forced to venture from the camp in search of other campsites, walking through bushes and swamplands until they managed to locate a logger who eventually took them to a village where they related their story and made a police report.

An investigation was launched, which eventually led to Browne’s arrest and prosecution.

According to the Guyana Police Force (GPF), Browne was arrested on April 28, 2021 and charged contrary to Section 3 (1)(a) and Section 4 of the Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act, this was after the Police had issued a wanted bulletin for him on April 27, 2021.

Only recently, the GPF secured a conviction against Feezal Shaw, a wildlife trader, who was sentenced to three years imprisonment on one count of human trafficking and ordered to pay $2,127,000 in restitution to the survivor.

Gold transactions to soon...

From page 12 Policy and Strategy provides a guide of the actions required to be undertaken to improve Guyana’s effectiveness in mitigating ML, TF, and PF.

“This National Policy and Strategy is a dynamic document reflecting Guyana’s efforts to combat ML, TF and PF risks and the progress in those endeavours.

It will be reviewed every three (3) years to determine whether any amendments may be required to properly satisfy each objective,” it said.

Those identified as part of the process includes; The Attorney General’s Chambers, the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Financial Intelligence Unit, the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Revenue Authority, the Ministries of Natural Resources and Finance and AML/CFT Supervisory.

According to Minister Nandlall, “we recognise that we cannot operate in a vacuum, and cooperation is important domestically and internationally, particularly with our regional counterparts where effective and timely information sharing can make a vast difference in the detection and prevention of all crime, more specifically, financial and organised crime.”

He said too, in the document that “additionally, we recognize that this National AML/CFT/PF Policy and Strategy can only be successful when linked to the strategic objectives of other important elements in the battle against money laundering (ML), terrorist financing (TF) and proliferation financing (PF).”

To this end, he said the administration has been implementing measures to combat related and predicate criminal offences. These efforts, Nandlall said, have been recognised, “resulting in Guyana enjoying improved rankings in international reports such as the United States’ Department of State International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) and the Transparency International Corruption Index.

Similarly, Guyana has been removed from the European Union’s Blacklist on Taxation.”

With the implementation of the newly adopted National Policy and Strategy, Nandlall is of the view it will not only bring “us in compliance with international obligations devolving upon Guyana, but will be the menu of organised strategic and targeted actions, that will create a robust and resilient protective network, that will insulate Guyana, and in particular, its financial system from being contaminated by the proceeds of crime.”