–Ramjattan says he had forwarded letter on the Scheme to Commissioner James but never received a response

By Tamica Garnett

THE Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said Wednesday that the legal advice which cleared the way for Yuri Garcia Dominguez to be granted naturalisation status was based on the file sent by the police, which showed that the Cuban national was not involved in any unlawful activities.
Former Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan also confirmed on Wednesday that he’d received a letter informing of a possible Ponzi scheme run by Dominguez.
The former minister said that upon receipt of the letter, he instructed then Commissioner of Police Leslie James to investigate the allegations and report back to the Guyana Securities Council (GSC).
“I think a letter was indeed sent to me last year; I can’t recall the contents of the letter, but like every other letter that comes that requires investigations, I sent it off to the police. The police made their report, I think, back to the persons who sent me the letter,” Ramjattan informed, in a telephone interview with the Guyana Chronicle.

NEVER CHECKED BACK
Ramjattan said nothing was ever sent back to him, and he never checked up back on the situation.
“I don’t know what it was, because it wasn’t sent back to me. Every day you get allegations, and the letter, as far as I can recall, was sent to the commissioner of police. And I indicated to the commissioner, ‘Please take action on this matter, and report to the relevant stakeholders.’ That is it; that is what you do all the time as minister,” Ramjattan related.
Nonetheless, the former minister said he believes a report was sent to someone or the other.
“The report was asked to be sent to the Securities people; they would’ve gotten a report, too, in my opinion, from the police, if he [Dominguez] was doing any of whatever the report was about,” Ramjattan said.
The GSC, however, has since informed that it has never received any response to earlier correspondence sent. Efforts on Wednesday to contact James for a comment on the situation proved futile.
Dominguez, who’s Financial Adviser and principal for Accelerated Capital Firm Inc (ACFI), is currently in police custody, being at the centre of a police investigation into allegations that his company was running a “Ponzi scheme”. Dominguez and his Guyanese wife, Ateeka Ishmael were arrested last Thursday as thousands of Guyanese who invested in the couple’s company await word of what has become of their monies.

A Ponzi Scheme is a form of fraud in which investors are made to believe in the success of a non-existent enterprise, and encouraged to invest because of the payment of quick returns. However, the first investors are only being paid from money invested by successive investors. Due to its structure, Ponzi Schemes are destined to collapse when new investors dwindle.
According to reports, Dominguez has been operating his company in Guyana as far back as 2017, with some 17,000 Guyanese being said to have collectively handed over approximately US$20 million during the company’s existence here.
There is indication that the company has been on the radar for some time now, and efforts were made to have the relevant authorities investigate the company earlier. However, from all appearances, nothing was done. The situation has since evolved into a series of back-and-forth blame-and-shame, as hapless Guyanese stand to suffer over $4 billion in losses.
The Guyana Securities Council (GSC) has revealed that it had written both former Minister of Citizenship Winston Felix and Ramjattan, informing them of possible dubious operations by Dominguez through two companies, “Accelerated Wealth Inc” and “Forex Trade”.

NO RESPONSE
GSC said it received no response from either party. Felix, in a statement issued last Saturday has since denied that GSC ever sent him any correspondence, saying that he was only informed of the allegations via an undated and anonymous letter in August 2019, alleging illegal financial trading, which he then sent to the commissioner of police in September 2019.
The GSC, however, has since hit back by posting the letter that it said was sent to Felix in October 2019, as well as sharing a signed delivery note which acknowledged receipt by Felix’ Ministry.
In his statement, Felix further said that a naturalisation application for Dominguez was processed and approved earlier this year, but only after he’d received correspondence from the police saying that based on advice from the DPP, “This matter be treated as closed, and that Yuri Garcia Dominguez… continue the process of applying for citizenship.”
The DPP said that the advice it proffered was based on what was contained in the police file it was sent, which did not implicate Dominguez in anything of an illegal nature.
“Legal advice was given based on the information contained in the statements. We herein state categorically, the statements in the police file did not disclose that Mr. Garcia was involved in any unlawful activities,” the DPP statement conveyed.
The DPP, in its statement on Wednesday acknowledged that the Chambers was sent a file from the police in November 2019, and asked to give advice on a situation pertaining to Dominguez. However, based on the statements it received in that police file, the file was returned to the Guyana Police Force (GPF) for further investigations. The file was then returned to the chambers in February 2020.
“The complaint which sparked the investigation was made through an anonymous report and based on the investigations conducted by the police, there was no evidence of the commission of any offence by Yuri Garcia Dominguez,” the statement further explained.