The Board of Directors of the Congress of the Republic plans to schedule again for Tuesday, May 12, the discussion of the Comprehensive Law against Money Laundering or Other Assets and the Financing of Terrorism.
The president of Congress, Luis Contreras, indicated that the anti-money laundering proposal will once again be included in the legislative agenda, after the necessary agreements for its approval were not reached on May 5.
“We are rescheduling the laundering law. I think that the deputies these days will have the opportunity to reflect. This law belongs to the people of Guatemala. We want to be within the international regime of economic issues. We do not want to be vetoed by the gray list or the black list or whatever they call it. We want to protect our remittances,” said Contreras.
He added that he has held conversations with different parties to seek consensus before the next plenary session.
“The majority of deputies tell me that they agree with the law. So we have to continue talking to them. In fact, I’m going to talk to them right now. I’m calling a meeting,” he said.
“All these laws are of absolute consensus. They are not simple laws. They are laws that are probably complicated for some. The Board of Directors is willing to schedule washing as many times as we can. Tuesday is the last opportunity in the ordinary period. And if it is not approved on Tuesday, we are going to continue calling on people to come until we get its approval,” he said.
Asked about possible conditions to support the initiative, the president of the Legislature rejected that possibility and assured that there are only doubts among some deputies regarding the content of the proposal.
“We talk with the deputies. There is no conditioning here nor are we going to accept it. They know me, I know them and I respect them a lot. What happens is that they have their doubts and we are going to continue talking,” he indicated.
The discussion of the regulations stalled again on May 5, when the plenary session was scheduled to consider the final draft of initiative 6593, Comprehensive Law against Money Laundering or Other Assets and the Financing of Terrorism.
However, the session lasted more than two hours due to the extensive processing of bills, a practice that is usually used to buy time while the groups negotiate support and seek consensus.
During that period, several deputies remained talking in the chamber to try to consolidate votes in favor of the initiative.
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