‘It was not a political witch hunt’ -Pres Granger says of Jagdeo’s arrest
[File photo] - President David Granger greets Opposition Leader, Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo
[File photo] - President David Granger greets Opposition Leader, Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo

President David Granger on Friday maintained that the action being taken by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) is not a political witch hunt even as he said that former President Bharrat Jagdeo could have been treated differently on Tuesday given the circumstances.

SOCU had arrested Jagdeo,  former PPP members and others of the former administration. The PPP deemed the action a witch-hunt, a charge the Government has denied. The arrests and questioning by SOCU were made in respect to the controversial sale of lands at the Pradoville 2 Housing Project, Sparendaam, East Coast Demerara.

Speaking on his weekly television programme “The Public Interest”, the President said while he did not overrule the right of the Police Force to invite persons of any rank to report to SOCU headquarters, Jagdeo could have been treated differently.

“He has been President for 12 years and if it is determined that his involvement in the matter under investigation did not warrant him going to the office, a decision could be taken at the level of the Guyana Police Force. It was not a political witch-hunt. It was not ordered by the Government. In my view, some other way could have been used to determine whether his presence at the [SOCU] headquarters was necessary and that could have been done by a phone or a visit. But if after such a visit it was felt necessary for him to go down to the headquarters, I have no objection to that but I am very careful and very respectful of what I say of, or to former heads of state and I think that is the political culture I would like to encourage,” Mr Granger said.

He noted that he does not believe it is possible for SOCU to visit every minister.

“I did not interfere and will not interfere with the investigation but it is impossible for SOCU to go around the country trying to have private interviews because of the perceived rank of any person. I believe in the instance of the former President alone that an exemption could have been made but as I said, I don’t interfere with the police work. I think they acted properly generally speaking with regard to the other ministers.”

The President also said that the police must be allowed to do their job, and if it requires them to invite persons who were accused of certain offence or who have information to provide, they must do so without interference. Forensic audits done on the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) revealed that some $257M were spent on development of the Pradoville 2 housing project, and the value of land there should have been $82.8 M per acre, instead of the significantly less sum for which an acre was sold.

“Instead of accumulating all the costs associated with the Sparendaam Project — including the market value of the land — in a special account to be applied in arriving at the price to be charged per house lot, NICIL’s Board and Cabinet were complicit in charging the related costs of $257.049M to NCN in the form of equity investment, and to CH&PA in the form of receivables.

“The fact that several key Cabinet members are the beneficiaries of the house lots renders it highly inappropriate for the very Cabinet to approve of the charging of the expenditure to the accounts of NCN and CH&PA,” the audit report stated.

The report which was released by the Ministry of Finance, said the use of a “conservative estimate of $985M for the 2009 market valuation of the land on which the Marriott has been constructed prior to infrastructure being undertaken on a similar size land (makes) the total value of the Sparendaam project work out to $1.242B or $82.8M per acre.

This figure should have been used to compute the price per lot. It is not clear: (a) how many lots are involved, and their respective sizes; (b) the basis under which the recipients were selected; (c) how the price of approximately $1.5M per lot was determined; and (d) which entity — NICIL or CH&PA — received the proceeds from the sale of the plots”, the audit report disclosed.

Former Natural Resources Minister Robert Persaud who was also called in for questioning, said he is willing to settle the issue if the State can prove that the price paid for the plot of land in Pradoville Two was below market value. President Granger, when asked if his Government is open to such settlement, said it is a matter for the Guyana Police Force and SOCU to determine if a crime has been committed and how to handle it.

Since Tuesday last, SOCU has hauled in a total of 19 persons in connection with the Pradoville Two investigations. There are Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo; former Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon; former Prime Minister Samuel Hinds; Lisaveta Ramotar, daughter of former President Donald Ramotar; former Minister of Natural Resources, Robert Persaud; private sector executive Ramesh Dookhoo; former Labour Minister, Dr. Nanda Gopaul, his son, Ghansham Singh; and Marcia Nadir-Sharma, former Company Secretary to the National Industrial Commercial and Investments Limited (NICIL).
Also questioned were former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Water Incorporated

(GWI), Sheik Baksh; former Housing and Tourism Minister, Irfaan Ali; former Education Minister, Priya Manickchand; former Public Service Minister, Dr. Jennifer Westford; former Information Liaison to the Office of the President Kwame McCoy, former Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee; Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Hack and her husband and former Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), retired Rear Admiral Gary Best, who is now an advisor to the Government on Environment.

The APNU+AFC coalition had indicated on the 2015 campaign trail that it will investigate allegations of corruption under the former administration. Quizzed on whether the Government is sending a message to former and current public officials suspicions of corrupt activities, President Granger said, “SOCU was established by the PPP administration, it is a branch of the Guyana Police Force, I do not give direction to SOCU. SOCU has its work to do; I am not sending a message to anyone.”

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