THE purchase of a water cannon that never worked under the stewardship of Clement Rohee, while he headed the Ministry of Home Affairs is among several other issues which were turned over to the police on Wednesday for investigation.

On Wednesday Jaipaul Sharma, Minister within the Ministry of Finance, met with

Commissioner of Police, Seelall Persaud, at the Commissioner’s office to hand over the Final Reports of the Forensic Audits of National Insurance Scheme (NIS), National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), Guyana Lotteries Committee, Scrap Metal Unit, Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) and the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Purchase of a Water Cannon. Present at the handing over, in addition to Sharma and Persaud, was also Sydney James – Assistant Commissioner of Police and Head of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU).

A forensic audit conducted by Nizam Ali and Company has revealed that the equipment was bought at a price of $20.8M from Shiyan Yunlihong Industrial and Trade Co. Ltd, a company from China, as opposed to the previously reported price of $37M. According to the audit report “The Ministry engaged in public tendering, as required under section 25(1) of the Procurement Act of Guyana 2003 (the Act). No response was received for the invitation to tender. The MOHA then engaged in procuring the equipment, using a three quote system.” The report noted too that the auditor could not find any “available evidence” of a study or evaluation to determine the need for this equipment. Also, it was noted that there was no study to determine the merit of this particular type of equipment.