-AGMLA says she had asked to be transferred

THE non-renewal of the contract of Indira Anandjit as the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Legal Affairs was a result of questionable practices, the chamber of the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs has said. The statement comes days after Anandjit had raised several issues regarding the non-renewal of her contract and blamed Attorney General Basil Williams for most of them. Anandjit had decried the manner in which she was removed from her post by Williams. In a letter to the editor of the Guyana Chronicle, Anandjit said she was informed of the non-renewal of her contract by virtue of a newspaper article carried by the Stabroek News on August 31.

The former permanent secretary was sent on 52 days administrative leave by Williams to facilitate an investigation by the Auditor General into the disappearance of approximately $2.5M worth of Commonwealth law books and computer parts costing almost the same amount from the ministry.
It is believed that the law books went missing between 2013 and 2015. But Anandjit maintained that the books have not disappeared and moreover, the Minister of Legal Affairs is more than aware of where the books were located. “What is disturbing is that Minister Williams feigned ignorance of these books when at a meeting he was told about them. It was even followed up with other discussions on procurement of books for the ministry. It is grossly unfair for Minister Williams to publicly attack me saying that I could not account for the books when he knew who had them,” said the former permanent secretary. She noted too that while she had approved payment for the books, they were used by former Attorney General Anil Nandlall and were kept in the chambers.
However, the ministry in response said one day after the former permanent secretary proceeded on annual leave, “incriminating documents” were taken to Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Williams. According to the statement, the former permanent secretary had “oppressed, marginalised and discriminated”against staff of the ministry. “The staff advised the newly appointed Minister of the Public Service procedures which required the matter and documents being sent to the Auditor General.”
According to Williams, the documents showed that Anandjit approved the payment of over $2.5M for Commonwealth Law Reports which went missing along with over $2M in computer parts. “…but those purchases could not be found as having been received in any of the records of the ministry,” the statement added. The Auditor General was asked to investigate that matter and months after that investigation purportedly began, the ministry received a report from the Auditor General’s office. That report was challenged by virtue of the Audit Act.
“The Report could be interpreted to mean that former President Donald Ramotar and former Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, conspired to spend taxpayers’ money in the custody of the ministry to purchase the law books for Nandlall’s benefit,” the statement added. In May, Williams had said Auditor General Deodat Sharma informed him of a secret arrangement between former President Donald Ramotar and former Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall relative to the missing law books.
According to a document written by Ramotar and addressed to the Auditor General, and seen by Williams, the former President admitted to having a private arrangement with Nandlall to spend money voted for under the Ministry of Legal Affairs to acquire the law books for his (Nandlall’s) private use. “These books would have been voted for in the budget of the ministry, but they would not have been within the curtilage of the ministry…not in the library and could not be found anywhere,” said Minister Williams.
The Ministry of Legal Affairs said following the change in government, when Minister Williams took office, he was met with staffers who greeted him with exultations of “we are free at last, free at last.” “There were many reports of Ms Anandjit taking files and giving them to Nandlall; downloading information from the ministry’s computers and giving them to him or his driver and suppressing documents and other information relevant to the new administration, yet the minister never dismissed her,” the ministry stated.
The minister said the former permanent secretary had written Minister of State Joseph Harmon, indicating that she did not wish to return to the Ministry of Legal Affairs but would like to be transferred to another ministry. “She never sought to return to the Ministry of Legal Affairs and for good reason; she was afraid of being charged for a criminal offence.” The ministry called on the former permanent secretary “to tell the nation whether she left the Ministry of Tourism, GECOM and the NCN under similar circumstances.” Melissa Tucker, the Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator, is acting as the permanent secretary.