By Fareeza Haniff
THE government wants to ensure that it has “concrete evidence” of malpractice before steps are taken to bring charges against any officials of the former administration.
This is according to President David Granger, who during his weekly programme, The Public Interest, said that even though the forensic audits may have discovered acts of corruption, it does not mean that there is evidence which would be accepted in a court of law.

“Laying charges seem to be a very attractive option, but I would like to emphasise that we need to have evidence before we run to court like a headless chicken. We just want to get the concrete evidence,” the President said.

Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Jaipaul Sharma, had said that audits into agencies, projects and funds have indicated that there seems to have been deliberate, premeditated plans to engage in corruption under the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government, which was defeated in last May’s general election.
Sharma said the audits have identified many instances in which the PPP government had violated the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act.
He said there have been many instances of “dishonesty, deficiency, discrepancies; some of which were never highlighted in reports from the Auditor General and consequently the National Assembly…”
The audits are yet to be made public and according to President Granger, once it is reviewed by Cabinet, the report “will be put in the hands of the law.”
“The Cabinet doesn’t direct the courts. Once we have recommendations from the law officers that there are cases to answer, that is the course we will follow. We don’t tell the courts what to do; if there are cases to answer, the Director of Public Prosecutions and other persons so qualified will advise,” the Head of State said.
According to Granger, the main focus of the APNU+AFC administration is to correct or to prevent any malpractice from occurring or recurring.
“It’s not a witch hunt; and again, if persons have committed offences, we want to see them tried, we want to see justice done. But in so doing, we would like to ensure that the cases are strong enough to bring about convictions.”
During the 2016 budget debate last month, Minister Sharma had said that based on the findings of the audits seen, he is of the opinion that there is sufficient evidence to suggest that premediated plans had existed to engage in corruption. He said the evidence would support charges in relation to deception, acts of fraud, misfeasance in public office, and political corruption.
Since assuming office in May 2015, the APNU+AFC administration has spent over $133M on forensic audits for several state agencies and other bodies.