A PROPOSED charge of failure to comply with a production order contrary to Section 26 of the Money Laundering Act was not read against former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of the Presidency, Omar Shariff, when he appeared on Thursday in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.

The Guyana Chronicle was told that some time back, the High Court had issued an order to Shariff for him to provide certain documents to the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU),with which he has since failed to comply.

It was on this basis that a charge was prepared against him, but prosecutors out of an abundance of caution decided to adjourn the matter without reading the charge on Thursday, citing that because a higher court had issued the order, they were not sure whether it could have been dealt with at the magisterial level. The issue has since been sorted out and Shariff will be formally read the charge on Monday.

Meanwhile,when contacted on the issue, head of SOCU, Sydney James, said that the investigation into the substantive money-laundering allegations against Shariff is still ongoing.

He said that the documents being requested from the former top PPP official are necessary for them to complete the probe. At approximately 13:35hrs on Thursday, in Court Five, Shariff’s name was called by Magistrate Fabayo Azore and after the former senior public servant stood in acknowledgement, the prosecution and defence teams immediately requested of the magistrate for the matter to be adjourned until Monday, pending advice from the High Court.

The prosecution team involved officials of the Special, Organised Crime Unit (SOCU). The entire scenario lasted five to 10 minutes and members of the media were out in full numbers. Shariff’s lawyer, Sanjeev Datadin, would only tell reporters that the prosecution had decided not to have the charges read.

An upbeat Shariff and his partner, Savita Hardai, exited the courtroom during this time. Hardai’s name was also recorded by the court. Late last June, Sharif was sent on leave by Minister of State Joseph Harmon, after he was arrested by ranks from SOCU in connection with large sums of cash which were found in his personal bank accounts. Investigators were also probing the source of the money.

Minister Harmon wrote, “You will recall having informed me that you are now the subject of an investigation by the Special, Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) of the Guyana Police Force.”

The minister told Shariff in that letter that he should proceed on his annual leave from July 1, 2016, to enable him to fully cooperate with the investigation. SOCU ranks also visited the former permanent secretary’s home and removed documents and a safe during the course of their investigations. Shariff was the Permanent Secretary of the then Office of the President when Donald Ramotar was President.

He was also a candidate of the then ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP) in the 2015 general elections. At the time when the investigation started against him, he was a member of the Central Committee of the PPP, from which position he had resigned.

Previously, he was the leader of the Progressive Youth Organisation, the youth arm of the PPP. The allegations against him are in relation to claims that between 2005-2015, he had amassed some $20B in business funds and had owned several properties. The charges that were not read resulted from investigations into these allegations.