CORRUPTION in Guyana cannot be tackled by any one agency and there needs to be a multi-pronged approach to address the scourge, Director of the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA), Professor Clive Thomas told the participants of an investigative training programme on Monday.

The training being held at the Felix Austin Training Centre is set to conclude on December 13, 2017. In attendance also were Head of SOCU, Assistant Commissioner, Sydney James; Commissioner-General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Godfrey Statia and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SARA, Aubrey Retmeyer.

Professor Thomas was at the time addressing officials from law enforcement and regulatory agencies on asset recovery and financial investigations, under the guidance of SARA and in collaboration with the Caribbean Institute of Forensic Accounting (CIFA).

The professor said it was mandated by law for persons to be properly trained and certified, as competent persons are needed to execute the mandate of SARA. “The institutions selected are important in their own right, and the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) is leading the charge,” he said.

He noted that the State Assets Recovery Bill is part of government’s arsenal in the fight against corruption. It is also part of the President’s desire to have a professional and unbribable public service.
The legislation, divided into seven parts, deals with the establishment of SARA, the establishment of the Recovery of State Assets Fund, civil recovery and preservation of state property obtained through unlawful conduct and orders to assist investigation and international co-operation and several other issues.

According to Retmeyer, corruption in institutions makes countries poor, however, a vibrant and incorruptible institutions develops a country rapidly.
“We need to have the foundation established for SARA and we have no doubt your institutions are counting on you,” Retmeyer told the participants.

SOCU‘s head, James, told the participants that the training will be very professional and the course will cover all stages in an asset , from the beginning of an investigation to trial. For his part Statia said most of the audits completed in Guyana were actually lacking in its forensic capacity.

He said the training will now empower participants to execute a proper forensic investigation which would lead to successful trials. “The information that will be shared means one particular agency would not have it, until we have a common database, you may have to ask your colleagues for information and sometimes laws would stymied that type of information you would need,” he explained.

Further, the GRA head said as such agencies can cooperate and use their resources to achieve the end result. Some of the participating agencies included: The Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), Bank of Guyana (BoG), Customs Anti- Narcotics Unit (CANU) and the Ministry of Finance.