PRIME Minister Moses Nagamootoo on Wednesday led the condemnation of opposition Members of Parliament (MP) who have called on Irish Financial Investigation expert and adviser to the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) Dr. Sam Sittlington, to resign over what they consider as his failure to investigate corruption.

Harry Gill, the PPP’s Region Five MP, led the call during an anti-corruption forum held at Parliament on Wednesday. The past PPP administrations have been described as the most corrupt this country has ever seen. Gill’s attack on Sittlington, however, was condemned by Prime Minister Nagamootoo and Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan.

During his presentation before a handful of parliamentarians from both sides of the House, the expert fielded questions from the participants. Gill accused Sittlington of taking the MPs on a “journey around the world,” while “turning a blind eye on reports of corruption taking place right here in our government.” Gill made reference to the rental of the Sussex Street drug bond by the government and the development of D’urban Park. “How do you justify that?” asked Gill, to which Sittlington replied, “I don’t have to justify it because I am an adviser to SOCU in terms of investigations that they have currently. None of those cases you mentioned have been referred to SOCU, nor have they been referred to the commissioner of police. As an investigator, I welcome any case that comes to SOCU.”
The SOCU adviser made it clear that in the instance of the forensic audits received by SOCU, the investigations were done by reputable firms. “Once they find misdemeanours therein, those cases were referred to the Finance Minister, then to the Police Commissioner and then to SOCU.”

But Sittlington’s response did not find favour with Gill, who noted that issues relating to rental of the Sussex Street bond and the development of D’urban Park were all raised in the media repeatedly. “Dr. Sittlington is here to brief us and talk to us about corruption – there is glaring evidence of corruption right here in Guyana…we need to find out how Guyana benefits from his services… As an expert in the field of corruption and anti-money laundering, the cases I mentioned here are in the news all the time, so you can’t just turn a blind eye to that. You must wake up one day and say ‘this doesn’t sound right, let me check it out’. You have never had the thought of investigating these cases sir? And advise the government that this is not the way to go about business,” asked Gill, who described the expert as a “brave man for exposing yourself to questions posed by the opposition.”
It was at this time, Ramjattan who served as chairman of the proceedings cautioned the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) MP not to stray away from the expert’s presentation. “Have you seen my TOR? It is public,” said Sittlington who had an uncomfortable look on his face.

But even that response prompted the PPP MPs to state they are unaware of what his TORs state with Gill suggesting that the Irish expert is ignoring clear instances of corruption here. “Even if the Guyana government is perceived to be corrupt it is ok, because I am working with them. That is what you are saying. I am going to look into corruption somewhere else. This is not right!” he declared as members of his party agreed.
This prompted the Public Security Minister to interject. Ramjattan reminded the parliamentarians of Sittlington’s earlier statement that his TORs do not allow him to act outside of established protocol for investigations. “If he is indicating that it is not within his TORs…he cannot do that,” declared Ramjattan.

“Well then he should resign, because it is a conflict of interest and it is not doing good for his portfolio,” Gill declared. This prompted Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo to upbraid Gill for his remarks. “You have no shame! You come here to Harass Dr. Sittlington?” asked the prime minister, even as Ramjattan declared the statement by Gill to be ad hominem and disallowed such statements.
Unhelpful

Meanwhile, Nagamootoo cautioned his colleagues that the seminar should not be used to ascribe motive. “…to turn this into a lynch gang is not helpful. It is not helpful; the intention is clear by calling for Dr. Sittlington to resign,” declared the prime minister. It was then that the opposition through Juan Edghill objected strongly to the prime minister’s use of the term ‘lynch gang’. “I am offended by the prime minister’s statement and I am calling for it to be withdrawn,” Edghill said. This resulted in a few minutes of loud cross talking among the participants as Dr. Sittlington remained seated.

“We all came here to learn not to prosecute and what is taking place is a prosecution of the adviser. He should withdraw his assertion. It is unacceptable,” said the prime minister. At the conclusion of the seminar, Nagamootoo told Guyana Chronicle that he was disappointed by the opposition’s behaviour.

“To use the occasion to accuse him of discriminatory conduct, going after one side and not the other side, and calling for his resignation it says there is a motive, you are making statements with a motive to discredit a person who is in a position just as an adviser.” “I am very disappointed because we are a hospitable country, we extend courtesies to friends and visitors and one would have expected you won’t find this outrageous conduct in the National Assembly by Members of Parliament– very insolent, arrogant and bombastic and accusatory. Is this how you treat people?” Nagamootoo questioned.

Meanwhile, Dr. Frank Anthony then asked Sittlington what mechanism is in place for an ordinary citizen to deal with instances of corruption. “There are many citizens around the world who suspect corruption in government and some sit idly by and accept it and others will campaign against it and others will report it. If you report something as a citizen, it has to be looked at. If you want something investigated you report it,” the expert responded. Dr. Anthony noted that he like many other citizens is concerned that the police do not take allegations of corruption seriously and find ways and means of not investigating same. “How can we change that?” he asked, to which Dr. Sittlington said the establishment of anti-corruption bodies that are independent of influence by decision-makers would change that situation. Questions were also asked by Opposition Chief Whip Gail Teixeira, Minister within the Ministry of Finance Jaipaul Sharma, and Opposition MPs Gillian Burton-Persaud and Nigel Dharamlall.