–to refute claims of providing wrong advice to President

THE acting President, substantive Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, on Friday made it clear that he intends to rebut the “false claim that he wrongly advised” President David Granger to investigate whether Carvil Duncan should be removed from constitutional office.In a statement to the media, the Prime Minister said he was served with an Order of the Court in a matter of an application by Duncan to the High Court for Writs Certiorari and Prohibition.

“The Order, made by Mr. Justice Franklin Holder in Chambers, also directed that a Rule of Nisi of Prohibition be issued to the three-member tribunal to put on hold its hearing into whether Mr. Duncan ought to be removed from office,” the statement from the Office of the Prime Minister has stated.

The tribunal set up to do this investigation comprises Madam Justice Roxane George, Justice (Rtd) Winston Patterson and attorney-at-law Robert Ramcharran.

The acting president, who is also an attorney, said he has additionally taken note of “sensational and contemptuous claims” reported in the media by both Duncan and his attorney, Anil Nandlall, whilst the tribunal was sitting: that service of a letter to Duncan was not effected.

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo had written to Duncan, calling on him to explain why a tribunal should not be appointed to investigate whether he should be removed from constitutional office, but that letter had gone unanswered. Duncan is contending that he never received any correspondence from the Prime Minister.

Acting on the advice of the Prime Minister, President Granger had, on October 5, 2016, sworn in the tribunal to do the investigation. It last met on October 20, and was expected to submit its finding within another week.

“The establishment of the tribunal was triggered by investigations against Mr. Duncan and his subsequent arraignment on criminal charges of larceny and conspiracy to commit a felony whilst he held the constitutional post of Chairman of the Public Service Commission and membership on the Judicial Service Commission and the Police Service Commission,” the statement said.

President Granger last week suspended Duncan, chairman of the Public Service Commission (PSC), with immediate effect, pending the outcome of the proceedings of the tribunal. Duncan was suspended the same day he indicated through his attorney that he would be moving to the High Court to challenge the legality of the tribunal appointed to determine whether he should be removed from constitutional office after being charged with fraud.

Duncan was also suspended from performing constitutional functions as ex-officio member of the Judicial Service Commission, the Police Service Commission, and other functions as ex-officio member of the Commission of the Board of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).

This decision, the Ministry said, is in accordance with Article 225 (6) of the Constitution, which states: “If the question of removing the officer from office has been referred to a tribunal under this article, the President, acting in accordance with the advice of the prescribed authority, may suspend the officer from performing the functions of his office, and any such suspension may at any time be revoked by the President, acting in accordance with such advice as aforesaid, and shall in any case cease to have effect if the tribunal recommends to the President that the officer should not be removed from office.”

Meanwhile, Duncan has alleged that he had been offered a “financial package” by both President Granger and Minister of State Joseph Harmon in exchange for his resignation, but this claim has been emphatically denied by Government.

It must be noted, however, that both the President and Minister Harmon had met with Duncan in a bid to have him voluntarily vacate the constitutional posts, as it is undesirable for one to be facing criminal charges whilst holding constitutional office.

Duncan is currently before the court on fraud charges after it was discovered by auditors that he had paid himself approximately $1M and had allegedly conspired with Deputy Chief Executive Officer (DCEO) of the Guyana Power and Light, Aeshwar Deonarine, to transfer an unapproved sum of approximately $27M into Deonarine’s personal account.