…says tribunal premature, repugnant

OPPOSITION Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has denounced the establishment of a tribunal appointed by President David Granger to inquire, investigate, and recommend whether fraud accused Carvil Duncan, Chairman and appointed member of the Public Service Commission, should be removed from office for inability to discharge his duties.

On Thursday President Granger swore in the three-member tribunal, in keeping with Article 225 of the Constitution of Guyana. Justice Roxane George will chair the tribunal. The other members are Justice (ret’d) Winston Patterson and Attorney-at-Law Robert Ramcharran.

The tribunal is expected to commence its work immediately, and render its report, findings and recommendations to President Granger on or before October 31, 2016.

In offering congratulations and appreciation to the tribunal for taking up this challenge, the Head of State said it is an indication that Guyana is a well-run country. “It represents the commitment of this Administration to due process. We are obliged that when matters are brought to our attention, the response should not be hasty, arbitrary, or whimsical; and that we follow the Constitution both in spirit and in letter,” President Granger said.

In a statement issued by his office, Jagdeo said the establishment of this tribunal was triggered by the institution of certain criminal charges against Duncan. “These charges are still pending before a magistrate of the Georgetown Magistrates courts. The very Constitution that the President pledges to follow ‘in spirit and letter’ confers upon Mr. Duncan a presumption of innocence until proven guilty by a court of law,” the opposition leader said.

Since the charges against Duncan are still pending, the establishment of this tribunal is “premature, pre-emptive and repugnant” to the very “due process” to which the President says that his Administration is committed, charged Jagdeo.

“Indeed, the establishment of this Tribunal smacks of exactly the opposite: caprice, arbitrariness and witch-hunting. It is public knowledge that Mr. Duncan has been a stumbling block at the Public Service Commission, preventing this Administration from dismissing public servants on ethnic and political grounds, and blocking the hiring of unqualified cronies,” Jagdeo charged.

He said establishment of the tribunal would have a prejudicial impact upon the pending legal proceedings, as the President has sent a clear signal to the presiding magistrate what outcome the Executive expects.

“In these circumstances, we view the establishment of this tribunal as a travesty of justice, and an assault upon constitutional due process and the fundamental rights of Carvil Duncan and the thousands of workers whose interests and welfare he protects.”

Duncan, President of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) and General Secretary of the Guyana Labour Union, was charged jointly with Aeshwar Deonarine, former Deputy Chief Executive Officer (DCEO) of the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL), over the unapproved transfer from the PetroCaribe Fund of approximately $29M to their personal bank accounts.

Duncan was initially placed on $1M bail by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan.

Police allege that Duncan stole $984,900 from GPL on March 31, 2015 at Georgetown, after conspiring with Deonarine to commit the act of simple larceny. Duncan is also alleged to have conspired with Deonarine to commit a felony – that is to say: between May 7 and 8 at Georgetown, he conspired to steal Gy$27,757,500, property of GPL. He has denied the charges.

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo initiated the process to have Duncan removed following the institution of criminal charges against him. The PM had written Duncan earlier this year requesting that he show cause why a tribunal should not be established, as provided for by Article 225 of the Constitution of Guyana, to address the question of his removal from the constitutional offices of Chairman of the Public Service Commission and member of the Police Service Commission and Judicial Service Commission.

Nagamootoo made the decision in view of the offences for which Duncan has been charged, which are at present engaging the attention of the Court. Nagamootoo was reported as having advised Duncan via letter that the procedure has been invoked on the basis that the offences for which he has been charged place him in a position where it is necessary for him to defend the charges before the Court. And further, that there is concern that during this period, he would be unable to perform the duties imposed upon him by the Constitution in relation to the aforementioned constitutional offices that he holds.

Nagamootoo had further advised Duncan that the letter was his “opportunity to inform the exercise of his (the Prime Minister’s) discretion to advise His Excellency, President David Granger, whether to establish the tribunal.”

That letter, dispatched on March 29, 2016, requested that Duncan respond within 14 days of receipt, but he has never responded.