MINISTER of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, says the authorities have made no intervention in the operations of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), noting that accusations from those fingered by the body will continue unabated.Last week, a number of former government officials including Former President, Bharrat Jagdeo, were called in for questioning by SOCU in relation to the acquisition of land at the contentious Pradoville Two housing area on the East Coast of Demerara.
While addressing the annual Transparency Institute of Guyana Inc. (TIGI) annual dinner on Saturday evening at the Pegasus Hotel, Ramjattan said that “the fact that I had some wine with Sam (Dr Sam Sittlington ) Wednesday evening at Oasis was because I wanted to thank him for the great work he did at SOCU at his farewell function.” Sittlington departed Guyana the following day.
Ramjattan said that the government was concerned about the perception of bias and accusation of political motivation concerning audits sent for police investigation. According to him, this was the reason why the government sought the assistance of the British High Commission to have expert Sittlington work along with the SOCU. He added that he will plead the return of the British fraud expert with High Commissioner, Greg Quinn.
He said that when the government assumed office in May 2015, it decided to undertake a number of forensic audits of state agencies because of its knowledge of what corruption encompasses and allegations of corrupt behaviour and maladministration at state agencies and other Government entities.
Ramjattan noted that forty nine forensic audits, with the exception of five, have been completed and the results have so far confirmed these allegations of corruption and maladministration. Cabinet reviewed and decided that the reports of the audits should be published on the Ministry of Finance’s website; a move which he noted was supported by TIGI.
He said too that the government decided that the actions based on recommendations of the audits must be taken by the boards of entities which were audited and those which included criminality must be taken to the Commissioner of Police.
He said that many of the recommendations made by the auditors involved reviewing and tightening of systems and procedures. As regards their implementation post-audit,” If I may proffer an opinion, it seems that the performance thus far on that score is satisfactory.”
According to him, TIGI can help in creating an unbiased assessment by comparing what were recommended as against what has been implemented thus far.
While commending the work of TIGI, Ramjattan said that the “investigative work”, “frank and sharp” comments of the entity must remain citing the enrichment of the country’s future by the work of the watchdog body.
He said that the APNU+AFC government remains committed the democratic order of transparency and accountability scrutiny by the entity’s work.
“We as a country will be enriched by your work,” he said, noting that Guyana’s democracy will be “half-baked” if public interest watchdogs such as TIGI are not effective, and halts its digging into the decision –making process as well as public affairs.
Noting that TIGI delves into corruption in Government, Ramjattan said that although the government “will part ways in certain instances with TIGI,” the two remain united in the stance of what corruption causes. He mentioned the Hamilton Green Pension Bill as an example the two parties may not see eye-to-eye.
According to him, corruption “destabilises and makes insecure the whole society,” adding that it undermines institutions and values of democracy such as ethical values. Noting that corruption also jeopardizes the rule of law, Ramjattan said that the matter also involves the illicit acquisition of wealth by a few to the detriment of thousands and even millions.
Ramjattan opined that because of the actions of the Government, Transparency International elevated Guyana’s points to 34 in 2016 from 27 and 29 in 2014 and 2015 respectively. He added that it was the second highest jump in points by any country second only to Suriname which went up by 7 points as compared to Guyana’s 5 points.