CHAIRMAN of the Police Service Commission (PSC), former Assistant Commissioner of Police, Paul Slowe has signalled his intention to “vigorously defend” the allegations of conspiracy to defraud, and sexual assault that were levelled against him.

Slowe, along with eight other current and retired senior ranks of the Guyana Police Force (GPF), were on Thursday jointly slapped with a fraud charge by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) for an alleged conspiracy to defraud the GPF of some $10M.

The particulars of the charge allege that Slowe and others, between March 1, 2019 and July 7, 2020, at the GPF Headquarters, conspired to defraud the Force of $10,056,000 by paying him and four other retired officers the said sum, without complying with the proper procedures.

The charge comes after an investigation by SOCU revealed that former Commissioner of Police Lesie James unilaterally hired Conway, Whittaker, Gilbert and Fraser, all former GPF officers, to conduct a complete revision of the Force’s Standing Orders in March 2019.

SOCU is alleging that James made no contractual agreements with specifications as to what was to be revised, and the terms of payments, and that neither did he prepare a budget for the service that was being rendered.

SOCU also posits that since the sum exceeds $10M, it should have been budgeted for, and sent to the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) for approval, none of which was allegedly done, and further that while the enormous sum of money was paid to the former police officers, they are yet to provide the Force with a completed revised Standing Order.

Slowe’s attorney, Selwyn Pieters, in a press release issued on Friday, said the “false allegations” levelled against his client has “tarnished the good name and reputation of a series of former and current senior police officers, including Mr. Slowe.”

In replying to the conspiracy to defraud charge, the attorney-at-law noted that work was done on the Standing Orders. However, no timeline was provided for the work to be completed. Further, he explained that the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections and the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the delay which prevented the completion of the Standing Orders.

“In the lead up to the elections, the location in which meetings were held became unavailable due to use by the Guyana Police Force for elections purposes,” the press release said, adding that the five-month election fiasco and the pandemic “made meetings to deal with finalization of the Standing Orders not feasible”.

Pieters also noted that Slowe, as the Chairman of the PSC, had other duties to perform in that capacity, as well as his paid employment capacity, which takes him overseas.

Further, the attorney said that the allegation of sexual assault is false.

“Mr. Slowe is presumed innocent and will be pleading not guilty to these charges. His criminal lawyers will be vigorously defending this matter and look forward to the truth coming out in a court of law,” the press release said

In addition to Slowe, retired Assistant Commissioner Clinton Conway; current Assistant Commissioner Royston Andries-Junor; retired Assistant Commissioner Claude Whittaker; retired Senior Superintendent George Fraser; retired Superintendent Mark Gilbert; Assistant Superintendent Marlon Kellman; Woman Senior Superintendent Marcelene Washington, and retired Senior Superintendent Michael Sutton were also charged.

Former Police Finance Officers, Washington and Sutton were also charged separately with misconduct in public office. The charge against Sutton read that in his capacity as Finance Officer of the GPF, between July 1, 2019 and July 31, 2019, he wilfully misconducted himself while performing duties by falsely signing seven payment vouchers as the accounting officer, which he was not authorised to do.