BRITISH High Commissioner to Guyana, Greg Quinn, has said that there are no talks at this time on a possible replacement for former special advisor to the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), Dr Sam Sittlington, who was fired on February 1.

Contracted by the UK government to assist SOCU since 2016, Sittlington’s contract was initially expected to be up in 2020; however, it came to a premature end after it was revealed that Sittlington was in the process of setting up his own fraud investigation company in Guyana.

“It’s still under discussion as to what is going to happen with that contract. At the minute we’re looking into what will happen going forward, but there’s no further information at this time,” Quinn noted on Wednesday.

The financial investigations adviser was tasked with working with the Director of SOCU, Sydney James, and was responsible for reviewing all current investigations carried out by SOCU, provide advice and guidance on each case, as well as in relation to liaising with other agencies–external and internal–in order to support the SOCU investigations. He also provided practical advice and guidance to the director of public prosecutions (DPP) and lawyers of the Attorney General’s Chambers, on the progress of crime matters.
He was also tasked with conducting meetings, workshops, research and training and submitting reports on his work and findings.

An Irish financial investigations expert, Sittlington had been working with SOCU on a number of high-profile cases, including those involving opposition members of parliament. He was hired through the Security Sector Reform Programme. His recent move to set up a company might have been seen as a conflict of interest.