By Leroy Smith

HOSPITALISED Assistant Police Commissioner Balram Persaud is not likely to return to office as the Force Administration Officer.This was confirmed by multiple sources at the senior level of the Guyana Police Force, who have blamed his present hospitalization for this development.

The Guyana Chronicle was reliably informed that ACP Balram Persaud, who was on annual leave when he became involved in a car crash, has suffered such severe injuries, as would require him to have weeks of rest, even after his discharge from hospital.

In the scheme of things, ACP Persaud, who has accumulative annual leave of almost two months, would have returned to work sometime in late March. He had previously proceeded on his leave, but was required to return to work after the mother of another senior police officer had passed away and the Force had granted that officer compassionate leave to deal with this death in his family.

Once that officer had resumed duty, Mr Persaud had resumed taking his annual leave, but was unfortunately involved in an accident, which saw him being hospitalized, and this has affected his annual leave.

With Mr Persaud hospitalized, his annual leave has been placed on hold and he has been listed as being on sick leave. The exact period of that sick leave would be determined by his doctors. When Mr Persaud’s sick leave has expired, he would continue his annual leave.

Information available to this publication suggests that this senior officer is slated to head into pre-retirement leave in early July, when he would celebrate his 55th birthday, following which he would go into retirement in early August.

Given the present situation, all those activities have allegedly been placed in abeyance, and ACP Persaud would not be able to return to active policing after his sick and annual leave would have been completed, as they would run consecutively. Doctors monitoring his condition and response to treatment are continuously updating Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud and Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan.

Contacted on Sunday, Traffic Chief, Superintendent Dion Moore, confirmed that Mr Persaud was still seeking medical attention at a city hospital. Asked if the police would have launched an official investigation into the accident of the senior police officer, Mr Moore responded in the affirmative and said that the investigation is still active, even as ranks are waiting to secure a statement from Mr Persaud.