The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Guyana wishes to address the grossly inaccurate and mischievous claims by V-PAC posted yesterday on the group’s Facebook Page.
It appears that the leader of VPAC did not read the FIU 2024 Annual Report properly or he is unable to interpret the data and tables in the report.
On pages 18 and 19 of the report, the FIU provided information and statistics relating to Threshold Transaction Reports (TTR). On page 18 it clearly states that a TTR captures “financial transactions conducted by customers from the various categories of reporting entities that meet or exceed legally specified monetary thresholds”. The report further clarifies that “a TTR must be submitted for any cash or, in certain specified cases, non-cash transaction conducted by or on behalf of a customer within a given month that meets or surpasses the established threshold limit, as prescribed by the AML/CFT legislation”.
In the case of the Auto Dealers’ sector, the dealers (the Reporting Entity) are required to submit TTRs for every single transaction that is G$2,000,000 or more. Simply put, TTRs are mandatory for the purchase of any vehicle costing G$2,000,000 or more. It is therefore logical to conclude that this threshold limit will result in thousands of reporting transactions because the price for used /reconditioned vehicles is usually G$2,000,000 and above.
This data is used primarily for strategic or operational analysis, if and when required and is representative of normal transactions completed over the specified limit for the various categories of regulated entities. These transactions on their own are not deemed to be suspicious, just for being reported to the FIU.
As such, the 26 percent growth in the number of TTRs for auto sales related transactions to the FIU is understandable and in line with the tremendous year-over-year growth in the sales and registration of motor vehicles locally.
Moreover, the FIU clearly reported separate statistics for Suspicious Transactions in its Annual Report which can be found on pages 17 and 18 of the Report. STRs are reports which Reporting Entities (REs) are required to submit whenever they suspect or have reasonable grounds to suspect that funds or a transaction (attempted or completed) are connected to the proceeds of a criminal activity, money laundering, terrorism or terrorist financing offences.
The FIU, therefore, implores the public to ensure they take time to read and understand the contents of its Annual Report before making pronouncements. Failure to do so can result in misinterpretations, erroneous conclusions and gross misinformation being disseminated.
For reference, the FIU’s 2024 Annual Report which was presented to the National Assembly on November 3 by Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance is publicly available for all to read for themselves and can be accessed via our website at https://fiu.gov.gy/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/FIU-Annual-Report-2024.pdf.
