— Gaskin wants full investigation

ECONOMIST Ramon Gaskin is calling on the Guyana Police Force to update the nation on the status of the investigation into the alleged loss of more than $1B from the treasury, due to a reported corrupt transaction at the Gold Board Bartica office in 2014.

According to Gaskin, there is no statute of limitations for investigating such a heinous crime, alleging that “It was part of a careful, orchestrated conspiracy to defraud the Gold Board and the people of this country.”

In March 2014, agents of a popular gold dealer went to the Bartica Gold Board office with millions worth of gold over a period of time to sell it to the Gold Board.

It was later discovered that the dealer and his agents might have been in collusion with the staff of the Georgetown head office of the Gold Board and they engaged in a very unusual practice, which in essence saw the Bartica office having its hands tied and having to seek clearance from the Georgetown office.

“The Gold Board has reported billions of losses over the years and many of the persons who were in charge have been replaced, a lot of these losses took place because of corrupt transactions, especially transactions taking place at Bartica and even that office was closed. The essence of the corruption was the acceptance by the Bartica office mainly of very, very impure gold and they were paying the people at the high price for gold at 87/90 per cent purity,” Gaskin recalled.

Contacted last week, three very senior officials within the security sector were unable to provide an update on this particular investigation.

The development back in 2014 saw the general manager of the Gold Board being sent on leave. He subsequently resigned from his position.

A probe resulted in the temporary closure of the Bartica office and after that office was re-opened, it was closed again after another multimillion-dollar fraud was uncovered, this time pertaining to the receiving and cashing of millions of dollars in cheques for another big gold dealer here.

He said there are instances where persons have ended up in jail for lesser offences, but when it comes to these multimillion-dollar scams and ripping off of the nation and its people, those culpable tend to receive slap-on-the-wrist penalties.

Gaskin pointed out that it had to take persons outside of Guyana to determine that the Gold Board had erred, either by a dereliction of duty or intentionally, before a probe could have been launched.

He said Guyana should have been able to detect the scam.

“When the gold was brought to GT and sent for refinement in Canada, it was discovered that this gold that was bought, presumably at 90 per cent purity, was in fact 30-odd per cent purity and that is where the corruption was taking place, because the people who delivered this gold at the office were paid the full price; that is how the corruption took place and as a result of this corruption, the Gold Board lost billions of dollars, because they paid the full shot for gold that was very impure, that is what happened really,” he said, as he urged the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) to duly address the matter.

“I think it ought to be looked into by the police and SOCU and all those who are responsible for ripping off the treasury and the people of this country should be brought to account, that is why you have police and courts, and judges and magistrates” Gaskin told this publication.