Welcome to the Ministry of Legal Affairs

Our Mission

To ensure that proper legal services are provided to the Government; to provide statutory services to the public relating to the public trust and bankruptcy matters; and to register titles, mortgages, companies, societies and other bodies as well as other documents, as required by the law.

AG, team consult on alternatives to incarceration - The Chronicle Newspaper - 10th June, 2018

Details: Published: 11 June 2018

ATTORNEY-General Basil Williams and team met with consultant, Dr Dianne Williams, who is contracted under the Support for the Criminal Justice System Programme (SCJS) to discuss alternatives to incarceration.

The issues emanated from the discussions were: the design and implementation of a restorative justice programme under the Ministry of Legal Affairs, to solve minor offences or disputes through alternatives to trial; the design of proper rules of procedure; the proposal of appropriate standards of performance; a guide to the type of offences that should be the subject of restorative justice processes; the design and implementation of a training programme for restorative justice officers which includes court staff, lawyers, prosecutors, the media, Ministry of Legal Affairs officials, among others.

Essentially, the consultation further tackled the strengthening of the probation service, coupled with appropriate training; reviewed protocols and design risk assessment tools to ensure that released inmates are appropriately tracked; trained probation officers in the use of discretion to appropriately respond to each individual case; and provided the probation service with systems and equipment to generate and maintain adequate information concerning released offenders.

Restorative justice focuses on the needs of those affected by crime. This process allows persons to meet voluntarily with the others involved and gives them the chance to deal with the harm caused and helps them to heal.
In addition, discussions surrounded the importance of probation service as part of the criminal justice system. Probation service delivers community sentences which are tough, challenging offenders to change their offending lifestyles.

The SCJS programme seeks to strengthen the Probation and Social Service Department so it can perform adequate follow-up of treatments delivered in and after prison, in order to better tend to the rehabilitative needs of those who present a lesser risk of reoffending.

AG leads 15-member delegation to CFATF confab -The Chronicle Newspaper - 29th May, 2018

Details: Published: 01 June 2018

Attorney General Basil Williams addressing staff of the Guyana Consulate in Port of Spain as well as other members of the diaspora.

ATTORNEY General and Minister of Legal Affairs Basil Williams and a 15 member delegation are presently attending the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) XLVII Working Groups and Plenary Meetings in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

In a press statement on Monday, the Attorney General Chambers disclosed that the Working Groups Meetings are being held from May 27-29 while the Plenary will commence on Wednesday May 30 up until May 31, 2018.

During the (CFATF) Steering Group and the Plenary Meetings, which are being chaired by AG Williams, who is the Chairman of CFATF, several pertinent issues surround the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will be discussed.

The working groups include a CFATF/ -International Co-operation Review Group (ICRG) Forum for Heads of Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) and Steering Group Meetings.
The Guyanese delegation is made up of officials from agencies including the Attorney General Chambers, Bank of Guyana (BOG), Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU); DPP Chambers, Gaming Authority, Guyana Gold Board (GGB), Guyana Geology & Mines Commission (GGMC) and the Chief Cooperatives Development Officer.

In Trinidad, Minister Williams participated in a flag raising ceremony at the Guyana High Commission, hosted by Guyana’s High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago, Mr. Bishwaishwar Cammie Ramsaroop, in observance of Guyana’s 52nd Independence Anniversary.

CFATF banks on 11th EDF - The Chronicle Newspaper - 1st June, 2018

Details: Published: 01 June 2018

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams and members of the Guyana delegation at the CFATF conference

…to assist small states overcome challenges of fourth round evaluations

ATTORNEY General and Chairman of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), Basil Williams, said the fourth round of Mutual Evaluations continue to present a number of challenges for small member states.

Williams, who is also the Minister of Legal Affairs in Guyana, took stock of the situation when he delivered remarks at the opening ceremony of CFATF Plenary Meeting XLVII in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on Wednesday, May 30, 2018. Small member states are presently dealing with economies affected by low levels of financial growth, recovery from hurricanes and de-risking, the CFATF Chairman explained.

“Resources are being stretched as we all use our best efforts to legislatively strengthen our Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) frameworks, establish measures to deal with Proliferation Financing (PF) and implement the AML/CFT laws and processes to a level that can be considered as ‘high’ or ‘substantial’ levels of effectiveness,” he said.

Given the challenges faced, Williams said he looks forward to the start of the 11th European Development Fund (EDF), which will assist some members with their fourth round of Mutual Evaluation implementation requirements. The 11th EDF aside, the CFATF Chairman said he is confident that member states will continue to improve their levels of compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Standards, and thereby increase their levels of effectiveness with respect to implementation.

Under his chairmanship, Williams has been pushing training. Last month, an AML/CFT/CVE training programme for judges and prosecutors was conducted in Georgetown, Guyana. The CFATF Chairman used the opportunity to express thanks to Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, the Right Honourable Baroness Patricia Scotland for supporting the initiative with funding from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Government of Guyana. CFATF’s Secretariat and the facilitators who were drawn from the United Kingdom, Jamaica and the Regional Security System (RSS) Asset Recovery Unit (ARU) were also recognised for their inputs in making the seminar a success.

“While the workshop was not a joint undertaking with the FATF due to the scheduled dates of the event, I am pleased to state that we were able to provide the FATF with a report on the outcomes of our workshop, which could be used as part of the overall report on the experiences, challenges and good practices regarding Money Laundering/Terrorist Financing (ML/TF) investigations, prosecutions and confiscations,” Williams noted.
CFATF Secretariat, he further posited, has received positive feedbacks from participants who benefitted significantly from the technical training pertaining to ML, TF and criminal and civil confiscation.

“The workshop is also likely to have been the only one in the global network that presented the issue of Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) and its relationship to terrorism and terrorism financing,” he posited.

In January, also in Georgetown, Guyana, an assessors training programme was conducted. Come July, in Trinidad, a joint assessors training for members will be held with the FATF. Williams said under his tenure, once funding permits, he will ensure that there are other opportunities for training that will enable member states as a region to increase application of the laws to allow for better results during process of mutual evaluation.

“In executing our primary mandate, our mutual evaluation programme, which includes the mutual evaluation, follow-up and for our members thus far, the FATF ICRG process, it is necessary that we collaborate with the Secretariat and each other. Our workload is becoming more grueling in the face of limited resources,” the CFATF Chair said as he urged member states to be confident, creative and active participants in the work of CFATF. The Attorney General and a 15 member delegation represented Guyana at the CFATF XLVII Working Groups and Plenary Meetings in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago from May 27-31, 2018.

The Guyanese delegation is made up of officials from agencies including the Attorney General Chambers, Bank of Guyana (BOG), Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU); DPP Chambers, Gaming Authority; Guyana Gold Board (GGB); Guyana Geology & Mines Commission (GGMC) and Chief Cooperatives Development Officer (CCDO).

No attack on private lawyers - The Chronicle Newspaper - 27th May, 2018

Details: Published: 28 May 2018

Attorney General Basil Williams

— AG says Bar Association must not condone acts that injures the State

ATTORNEY General (AG) and Legal Affairs Minister, Basil Williams has rejected claims by the Guyana Bar Association that he launched an attack on private lawyers in recent days.
In a Stabroek News article headlined “Bar Council raps Attorney General over comments on private lawyers” on Thursday, May 24, 2018, the Bar Association said that comments reportedly made by the AG to the effect that “private lawyers who fail to hand over cases involving the State should be charged,” are unwarranted.

On Friday, while refuting the allegations levied against him, the Attorney General in a statement, said that as head of the Bar, he has and will continue to hold the Bar and its members in the highest regard. However, Minister Williams made it clear that as the country’s Chief Government Legal Advisor, he has an obligation to the President, the Government and the people of Guyana, to give the best legal representation possible.
That, however, cannot be achieved when cases, outsourced to private attorneys by the former attorney general of the last administration, are kept in the bosom of those attorneys, unknown to the new attorney general, he reasoned.

“The issue at hand is not the outsourcing of cases but the failure to inform the Attorney General’s Chambers in a timely manner of outsourced cases in the possession of attorneys,” Minister Williams explained as he cleared the air on the issue.

In the Stabroek News article, the Bar Association created a perception that the attorney general has issues with cases involving the State being outsourced to private attorneys.
“It was stressed that the reality is that lawyers at the private bar have always conducted litigation for the State in Guyana and throughout the Commonwealth, and continue to do so today. This practice is ‘entirely proper’ and is used where lawyers in private practice have such skills, experience or specialists knowledge of discrete areas of law to enable them to properly and successfully conduct litigation on behalf of the State, the association said,” the Stabroek News article read.

NO ISSUE WITH OUTSOURCING
But the attorney general made it clear that his chambers has no issue with the outsourcing of cases involving the State. It, however, has issues with private attorneys not updating the attorney general on cases they were awarded under the previous administration.
Minister Williams explained that under the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Administration, a number of cases were outsourced to private attorneys.

“Those attorneys refused to hand over the cases and the Attorney General’s Chambers only became aware of those cases after judgment was passed in large amounts e.g. the Dipcon case (2016), where a $400 million judgment was made against the Government was only told to the Attorney General three months after judgment was passed,” he further explained.

Stating that the Bar Association should not condone any behaviour that “injures” the State, the attorney general posited that any prudent lawyer would, upon a change of Government, see it fit to communicate to the Attorney General’s Chambers if they are in possession of any Government matter outsourced to them by former Attorney General Anil Nandlall.

MATTER OF COURTESY
According to Minister Williams, it is simply a matter of honesty and courtesy.
“More so, communication is important as the lack thereof has resulted in substantial loss of money to the Government and, by extension, the people of Guyana. The Attorney General’s Chambers cannot be prepared to defend cases on behalf of the Government if the Chambers is unaware of those cases. That is asking the chambers to achieve an ‘act of God’,” he emphasised.

The attorney general said retention of cases after a public announcement was made to relinquish same demonstrates an intention to injure the State.
Subsequent to the Dipcon case, the AG’s Chambers wrote nine attorneys – Roysdale Forde; Ashton Chase, SC; Bernard De Santos, SC; Manoj Naryan; Neil Boston, SC; Ralph Ramkarran, SC; Robin Stoby, SC; Sase Gunraj and Nigel Hughes – on March 1, 2016, requesting that they provide the Chambers with a list of matters and copies of the files if they were retained by the former AG. Only Ralph Ramkarran, SC; Nigel Hughes and Neil Boston, SC have responded to the letter to date.

“None of the above mentioned lawyers responded that they had Toolsie Persaud Limited-v-AG, which the court awarded a judgment of $1.7 billion dollars against the State,” Minister Williams pointed out. He also lashed out at the former attorney general. “…any leader worth their salt would appreciate a smooth transition of office,” the attorney general said while positing that Nandlall, upon leaving office, should have informed his successor of the status of all matters in the chambers and if any matters had been outsourced, who they were outsourced to. “That would have been the right thing to do. That would have been the honourable thing to do,” he said.