THE services of Omar Shariff as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of the Presidency (MOTP) have been terminated as of December 31, 2016 and Abena Moore has been appointed to the position of substantive Permanent Secretary as of January 3, 2017.A statement from the Ministry of the Presidency on Friday said Shariff was sent on leave by Minister of State, Joseph Harmon on June 30, 2016 pending an investigation being conducted by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), an arm of the Guyana Police Force.
In a letter dated June 30, 2016 to Shariff, Minister Harmon told him to proceed on his annual leave so that he could cooperate fully with SOCU during the investigation.
Shariff was arrested last June after some $10B were allegedly uncovered in his personal bank accounts; he was subsequently released on bail but SOCU continued investigations into the former Permanent Secretary’s alleged extraordinary accumulation of wealth as well as allegations of tax evasion and money laundering.
On Thursday, Shariff appeared before, Magistrate Fabayo Azore and almost immediately after he rose before the Magistrate, the prosecution and defence teams requested that Magistrate Azore adjourn to Monday pending advice from the High Court.
As a result, 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.
The High Court had issued an order to Shariff for him to provide certain documents to SOCU, with which he has since failed to comply.
Shariff worked under the former People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government and is a former senior member of the now-opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP). Shariff has long-standing ties with that party.