By Ariana Gordon

THERE needs to be clarity with regard to the autonomy of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), its funding source and a boost in human resource capacity, Irish Financial Investigation Expert Dr. Sam Sittlington has said.Sittlington worked with SOCU over the past five weeks and observed a number of deficiencies relative to the operation of the entity. On Wednesday at a press conference hosted by the British High Commissioner Greg Quinn, Dr. Sittlington said, “There has been a lot of discussion lately about who should fund the SOCU. The autonomy of the unit needs to be addressed.”
The Irish expert said, “A number of ministries have a say in the functioning of SOCU and this creates confusion and instability.” In order for the Unit to function properly, there must be clear ministerial direction and funding from one source, Dr. Sittlington stressed, noting that a budget that caters for the operational needs of SOCU is critical and must be a priority.
Only last week during the consideration of the current and capital expenditure in the National Assembly, the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) expressed concern over SOCU being placed under the Ministry of the Presidency as an entity to receive funding. $40M was budgeted under the Ministry of the Presidency for SOCU. Minister of State Joseph Harmon in response to the concerns of the opposition said, the situation is a temporary one.
His explanation was not satisfactory to the opposition’s Chief Whip Gail Teixeira, who said that the Terms of Reference (TOR) of SOCU does not indicate that it should be listed under the Ministry of the Presidency. She said too that SOCU being listed under the Ministry of the Presidency contradicted with the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Legislation.
Kicked about
Weighing in on this, Sittlington said SOCU has been “kicked about like a political football” in the press and that the comments made about the entity “can be demoralising for the staff and certainly for Assistant Commissioner James.” Additionally, Dr. Sittlington said that the majority of equipment supplied and used by SOCU is from “external sources,” but noted the importance of sustaining the operations of the Unit. “Sustainability needs to be provided for and applied with a complete audit of the unit’s workload, capabilities, responsibilities and successes. If I was to describe the current process of obtaining equipment to assist SOCU operations I would use the terms beg, steal or borrow, and I wouldn’t be far wrong. But I would take out the word steal. So in order to work effectively, SOCU need to know what their budget is and that those funds are immediately available,” he added.
He urged stakeholders to “invest in SOCU,” noting that the “The returns can be substantial and the re-investment potential can have a huge impact on crime such as drug trafficking, gold smuggling, fraud, cash couriers, tax evasion and other acquisitive crimes.”
More staff needed for SOCU
Meanwhile, the Irish expert said equally important to SOCU’s performance is its human-resource capacity. Dr. Sittlington during his 10-point recommendation for SOCU said currently, the agency is tremendously understaffed. He said there are currently nine persons working with SOCU, an assistant director, four investigators, a secretary and three Criminal Investigation Department (CID) detectives who have been seconded to work on the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Ltd (NICIL) investigations currently with SOCU to help sift the vast amount of documents from that case.
“SOCU currently manages a total of 285 investigations, 59 of those are live investigations, of which immediate action is required and the remaining held until further intelligence becomes available,” he added, while emphasising that prioritising is essential. SOCU, the Irish expert said, services other agencies that are “reactive to ongoing operations conducted by these agencies.” “They are also expecting further large NICIL-type investigations to reach their doors in the coming weeks. This workload cannot be sustained within the current staff.” Head of SOCU Sydney James has submitted a proposal for the increase in the capacity of the unit and Dr. Sittlington urged that the proposal “needs to be seriously considered and expeditiously approved.” “This includes a deputy commissioner, additional investigators, a legal officer, forensic accountant and administrative staff to be put in place,” he said.