Guyana Focus
The fight against corruption in Guyana has turned into a bitter political saga, with the accuser becoming the accused in a country in which the scourge is systemic, permeating the very fabric of society.
Following almost 2 1/2 years of investigations into alleged corrupt activities under the former PPP/Civic administration – now in opposition – the current APNU+AFC government finally laid charges against two officials of the former PPP/C administration for misconduct in public office.
Members of the opposition party have countered with five similar private charges against officials of the APNU+AFC government, creating conditions for a dramatic political faceoff which exposes the pervasiveness of corruption in Guyana.
Both sides indicated that there were more charges to come, which would test the strength of the country’s fragile justice system.
And in a pending development, the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) has indicated that more charges against former PPP/C officials are imminent but that the process will be long drawn out in both local and overseas courts.
Officials of the former PPP/C administration, Minister of Finance and Chairman of National industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), Ashni Singh, and former NICIL Head, Winston Brassington were jointly charged by the country’s Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) with three counts of misconduct in public office between December 2008 and May 2011.
The three charges were for selling 4.7 acres of government owned land at Liliendaal to Scady Business Corporation for $150M when they knew that the land was valued at $340 million by Rodrigues Architects; for acting recklessly in selling government owned land at Turkeyen for $598.7 million to National Hardware Guyana Limited in December 2008 without procuring a valuation; and, for selling 10.002 acres of land at Turkeyen to Multicinemas Guyana in May, 2011 for $185 million without procuring a valuation.
In turn, opposition PPP/C members filed private two separate sets of charges against five officials of the current government. In the first set of charges, Opposition members, Juan Edghill and Vicram Bharrat brought charges against the Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence, and former Minister of the same ministry, Dr. George Norton, for alleged misconduct and abuse of public trust. These charges have however been discontinued by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack saying that the correct procedure, which included the filing of police reports, was not followed.
It is alleged that Lawrence instructed the administrator of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation on the sole-sourcing of drugs and pharmaceuticals to the value of $605 million from Ansa Mc Al, which were alleged to be more than 100 percent above the market value; and against Norton for renting a house in Sussex Street for $14 million a month to be used as a pharmaceutical bond which was unsuitable for the purpose and was way above the market value.
The second set of charges against government officials were filed by former Attorney General Anil Nandlall against Minister of Finance Winston Jordan, Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson and former Minister of Education, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine over the D’Urban Park Jubilee project, constructed at the time of the country’s 50th Independence anniversary.
Jordan and Patterson were jointly charged with misconduct and abuse of public trust for having allegedly authorized the payment of $906 million to Homestretch Development Inc. for the construction of the D’Urban Jubilee Park.
Roopnaraine, who was a director of Homestrech Development, has been charged for having received in his capacity as Director $906 million in Public Funds while serving as Minister.
The government’s charges against opposition officials apparently have their roots in a series of forensic audits into corruption and misappropriation of state assets by the former PPP administration. Some 50 audits of various government agencies and institutions were done over a 16-month period ending in August 2016 at an estimated cost of $133 million.
Among the institutions audited are the Guyana Revenue Authority, NICIL, Guyana Energy Agency, Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, the Guyana Gold Board, the E-Governance Project, and the National Frequency Management Unit. The audits found numerous incidences of improprieties but insufficient evidence to lay criminal charges.
Following the completion of the audits in 2016, Khemraj Ramjattan, Public Security Minister was reported saying the audits were an embarrassment to the government as crucial documentation to substantiate the accusations was missing and that individuals with knowledge about corruption were afraid to provide such evidence.
President David Granger also said earlier that in many cases the forensic audits have not found sufficient evidence to proceed with criminal charges. He, however, claims that the results offered his administration an opportunity to correct many deficiencies. Similar sentiments were echoed by Junior Finance Minister, Jaipaul Sharma who contended that numerous instances of corruption and irregularities were uncovered but evidently none of them are prosecutable.
According to Director of SARA Professor Clive Thomas, as reported in the local press, documents received from external law enforcement agencies such as Interpol, Homeland Security and the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force show a massive scale of corruption and money laundering during the late 2000s to the mid 2010s
Thomas noted that the information provided by the foreign agencies was being converted into evidence to build solid cases to recover cash and other properties locally and overseas, noting that about eight to ten cases could form part of the first batch of “strong” cases to be filed for civil recovery of state assets in keeping with the United Nations Convention on Corruption.
He stressed that it was important for the evidence to meet the standards of foreign courts where some of the cases would be filed.
“We can’t recover state property in this country, believe you me, without fighting in the courts outside of Guyana so the fight that we engage in here is not a national fight. It’s a global fight. The wealth has left Guyana. It is deposited into accounts in places outside of Guyana and we have to find the means and the support that we need to get to those accounts to place the charges against the persons who hold Guyanese assets through some initial unlawful conduct and to try to recover it for Guyana,” Thomas is reported saying.
Evidently, the fight against corruption is heating up in Guyana. A year after being in office, President David Granger deflected blame for widespread corruption away from the government and onto the country’s private sector. He did not deny the existence of corruption within the government but laid the bulk of the blame on individuals and non-government organizations and entities.
“It is my view that corruption in Guyana is most widespread outside of government. The crimes of tax evasion, contraband smuggling, narcotics trafficking, trafficking in persons, money laundering – all contribute to corruption,” Granger is reported saying.
He noted that some people ascribe corruption to the abuse of entrusted power for private gain, but in reality the real sources of corruption exist in other crimes such as bribery, cronyism, fraud, graft, and nepotism.
It appears that the battle against corruption is only now heating up and that the two major political parties will be embroiled in an interesting and long drawn-out faceoff.
Both sides indicated that there were more charges to come, which would test the strength of the country’s fragile justice system.
And in a pending development, the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) has indicated that more charges against former PPP/C officials are imminent but that the process will be long drawn out in both local and overseas courts.
Officials of the former PPP/C administration, Minister of Finance and Chairman of National industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), Ashni Singh, and former NICIL Head, Winston Brassington were jointly charged by the country’s Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) with three counts of misconduct in public office between December 2008 and May 2011.
The three charges were for selling 4.7 acres of government owned land at Liliendaal to Scady Business Corporation for $150M when they knew that the land was valued at $340 million by Rodrigues Architects; for acting recklessly in selling government owned land at Turkeyen for $598.7 million to National Hardware Guyana Limited in December 2008 without procuring a valuation; and, for selling 10.002 acres of land at Turkeyen to Multicinemas Guyana in May, 2011 for $185 million without procuring a valuation.
In turn, opposition PPP/C members filed private two separate sets of charges against five officials of the current government. In the first set of charges, Opposition members, Juan Edghill and Vicram Bharrat brought charges against the Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence, and former Minister of the same ministry, Dr. George Norton, for alleged misconduct and abuse of public trust. These charges have however been discontinued by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack saying that the correct procedure, which included the filing of police reports, was not followed.
It is alleged that Lawrence instructed the administrator of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation on the sole-sourcing of drugs and pharmaceuticals to the value of $605 million from Ansa Mc Al, which were alleged to be more than 100 percent above the market value; and against Norton for renting a house in Sussex Street for $14 million a month to be used as a pharmaceutical bond which was unsuitable for the purpose and was way above the market value.
The second set of charges against government officials were filed by former Attorney General Anil Nandlall against Minister of Finance Winston Jordan, Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson and former Minister of Education, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine over the D’Urban Park Jubilee project, constructed at the time of the country’s 50th Independence anniversary.
Jordan and Patterson were jointly charged with misconduct and abuse of public trust for having allegedly authorized the payment of $906 million to Homestretch Development Inc. for the construction of the D’Urban Jubilee Park.
Roopnaraine, who was a director of Homestrech Development, has been charged for having received in his capacity as Director $906 million in Public Funds while serving as Minister.
The government’s charges against opposition officials apparently have their roots in a series of forensic audits into corruption and misappropriation of state assets by the former PPP administration. Some 50 audits of various government agencies and institutions were done over a 16-month period ending in August 2016 at an estimated cost of $133 million.
Among the institutions audited are the Guyana Revenue Authority, NICIL, Guyana Energy Agency, Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, the Guyana Gold Board, the E-Governance Project, and the National Frequency Management Unit. The audits found numerous incidences of improprieties but insufficient evidence to lay criminal charges.
Following the completion of the audits in 2016, Khemraj Ramjattan, Public Security Minister was reported saying the audits were an embarrassment to the government as crucial documentation to substantiate the accusations was missing and that individuals with knowledge about corruption were afraid to provide such evidence.
President David Granger also said earlier that in many cases the forensic audits have not found sufficient evidence to proceed with criminal charges. He, however, claims that the results offered his administration an opportunity to correct many deficiencies. Similar sentiments were echoed by Junior Finance Minister, Jaipaul Sharma who contended that numerous instances of corruption and irregularities were uncovered but evidently none of them are prosecutable.
According to Director of SARA Professor Clive Thomas, as reported in the local press, documents received from external law enforcement agencies such as Interpol, Homeland Security and the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force show a massive scale of corruption and money laundering during the late 2000s to the mid 2010s
Thomas noted that the information provided by the foreign agencies was being converted into evidence to build solid cases to recover cash and other properties locally and overseas, noting that about eight to ten cases could form part of the first batch of “strong” cases to be filed for civil recovery of state assets in keeping with the United Nations Convention on Corruption.
He stressed that it was important for the evidence to meet the standards of foreign courts where some of the cases would be filed.
“We can’t recover state property in this country, believe you me, without fighting in the courts outside of Guyana so the fight that we engage in here is not a national fight. It’s a global fight. The wealth has left Guyana. It is deposited into accounts in places outside of Guyana and we have to find the means and the support that we need to get to those accounts to place the charges against the persons who hold Guyanese assets through some initial unlawful conduct and to try to recover it for Guyana,” Thomas is reported saying.
Evidently, the fight against corruption is heating up in Guyana. A year after being in office, President David Granger deflected blame for widespread corruption away from the government and onto the country’s private sector. He did not deny the existence of corruption within the government but laid the bulk of the blame on individuals and non-government organizations and entities.
“It is my view that corruption in Guyana is most widespread outside of government. The crimes of tax evasion, contraband smuggling, narcotics trafficking, trafficking in persons, money laundering – all contribute to corruption,” Granger is reported saying.
He noted that some people ascribe corruption to the abuse of entrusted power for private gain, but in reality the real sources of corruption exist in other crimes such as bribery, cronyism, fraud, graft, and nepotism.
It appears that the battle against corruption is only now heating up and that the two major political parties will be embroiled in an interesting and long drawn-out faceoff.
plastic pollution
Georgetown – Bounty, Survival, Real Value, Mattai, DSL, Budget and Massy Stores on Sunday rewarded the first 20 shoppers to their outlets, with prizes for bringing reusable bags to the supermarkets. The five supermarkets’ move to encourage their customers to forgo plastic bags was in observance of Earth Day.
The ‘no plastic bag day’ initiative is the brainchild of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Senior Environment Officer Candace Thompson explained the day’s activity to the Department of Public Information (DPI).
“We have engaged the major supermarkets around Georgetown to have some of these items on board to help end plastic pollution and as a stepping stone we’ve taken the initiative to have the stores use biodegradable bags,” Thompson said.
The Environment Officer noted that Massy supermarket has pledged an excess of 6000 biodegradable bags that will also allow customers who shop at the Massy stores with their bags, in the future, to receive free accumulative points.
A Massy Supermarket customer spoke of the positive impact this project will have on the environment.
“I think it’s a good initiative, because you see plastic bags everywhere on the road and you know that it’s not good, but you don’t have another option…You know that there’s another way, but you don’t have a way of doing it, and since Massy is giving out these bags that’s a pretty good start,” she said.
Lelita Lachman, Assistant Manager for Bounty Supermarket’s branch at Bourda, told DPI that she is elated about the customers’ response to the project.
“I think it’s a great initiative with the EPA coming on board with supermarkets, supporting the go green or the recycling of plastic bags and shopping bags. A lot of our customers responded positively this morning they were all excited,” Lachman said.
One Budget Supermarket customer participating in the initiative said: “I normally end up with too many of them stored after a while so I tend to just throw them away.”
The theme for Earth Day 2018 “End Plastic Pollution” promotes the use of biodegradable and reusable bags instead of the usual plastic bags which when discarded improperly, clog drains, kill wildlife and negatively impact human health. Because of the non-biodegradable nature of regular plastic bags, they take decades to decompose and pose a serious threat to the environment.
First celebrated in 1970, Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22, worldwide. Various events are usually held to demonstrate support for environmental protection.
The ‘no plastic bag day’ initiative is the brainchild of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Senior Environment Officer Candace Thompson explained the day’s activity to the Department of Public Information (DPI).
“We have engaged the major supermarkets around Georgetown to have some of these items on board to help end plastic pollution and as a stepping stone we’ve taken the initiative to have the stores use biodegradable bags,” Thompson said.
The Environment Officer noted that Massy supermarket has pledged an excess of 6000 biodegradable bags that will also allow customers who shop at the Massy stores with their bags, in the future, to receive free accumulative points.
A Massy Supermarket customer spoke of the positive impact this project will have on the environment.
“I think it’s a good initiative, because you see plastic bags everywhere on the road and you know that it’s not good, but you don’t have another option…You know that there’s another way, but you don’t have a way of doing it, and since Massy is giving out these bags that’s a pretty good start,” she said.
Lelita Lachman, Assistant Manager for Bounty Supermarket’s branch at Bourda, told DPI that she is elated about the customers’ response to the project.
“I think it’s a great initiative with the EPA coming on board with supermarkets, supporting the go green or the recycling of plastic bags and shopping bags. A lot of our customers responded positively this morning they were all excited,” Lachman said.
One Budget Supermarket customer participating in the initiative said: “I normally end up with too many of them stored after a while so I tend to just throw them away.”
The theme for Earth Day 2018 “End Plastic Pollution” promotes the use of biodegradable and reusable bags instead of the usual plastic bags which when discarded improperly, clog drains, kill wildlife and negatively impact human health. Because of the non-biodegradable nature of regular plastic bags, they take decades to decompose and pose a serious threat to the environment.
First celebrated in 1970, Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22, worldwide. Various events are usually held to demonstrate support for environmental protection.
Georgetown – High blood pressure and diabetes are not conditions that can be taken for granted. In fact health officials have long been able to ascertain that having diabetes increases an individual’s risk of developing high blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems.
This is in light of the fact that diabetes adversely affects the arteries, thereby predisposing persons to atherosclerosis or narrowing of the arteries. As such, persons can develop high blood pressure, which if not treated, can lead to further blood vessel damage, stroke, heart failure, heart attack and kidney failure, according to a WebMD [partners in health] article.
It was these two conditions that topped the list when a medical outreach was held this past weekend.
The outreach was spearheaded by the Richard Giddings Foundation in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health and Food for the Poor Guyana Inc.
The Foundation is one that is known to host at least two outreaches per month in communities where the need for medical services is greatest. On this occasion the outreach was taken to the Deliverance Tabernacle Church in Kuru Kururu on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway.
Volunteer Lizanna Gordon said that the outreach would not have been possible without the effective networking with like-minded institutions, including the Ministry of Public Health’s Visual Inspection with Ascetic Acid [VIA] Clinic, the Chest Society, the Cheddi Jagan Dental Centre and the Diamond Hospital Ophthalmology Department.
According to Gordon, the Foundation is always ready and willing to reach out to communities in need. “We want you to know if there is a high need for medical outreach in your areas, you can contact our Foundation on [592] 693-1585,” Gordon said.
Those who took advantage of the outreach this past weekend were eligible for routine screening: including for high blood pressure and diabetes, VIA tests, dental and eye care. Prescription medication for both adults and children were also made available.
Georgetown – Several ministers of the government last Sunday paid a visit to the site where the Indian Arrival Day monument collapsed last year, at Palmyra, Berbice.
The team which included the Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, Minister of Social Cohesion, George Norton, Indian High Commission officials and regional officials, inspected the site and discussed the way forward. During the discussion, a representative from the Indian High Commission stated that the design was “very nice” but the basic soil testing should have been done before construction commenced.
The monument collapsed during its construction stage in April 2017 when the foundation weakened, causing the cylindrical structure to crumble to the ground.
Minister Trotman explained that it was during a visit to India in February 2018, alongside the Minister of Foreign Affairs, that the matter was raised by the foreign Minister of India and the government of India.
“We committed to have this monument completed, and in February the government of India offered to have an engineer, architect and sculptor assigned to the project”, Minister Trotman noted.
Trotman announced that the government is hoping for the monument to be completed by the end of 2018 or even an “almost complete” monument, since the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, is expected to Guyana during that time.
A cooperation agreement that was signed between the governments of Guyana and India has since been enforced and now being “accepted and activated”, according to the Minister of Public Infrastructure.
Minister Patterson said that the contract and design of the monument was done under the previous government, “all these things were done under Frank (Anthony) so it was just continued. It was at a point when the government changed, so the handing over process was ensued and we don’t know if they had these soil tests done”.
According to the Infrastructure Minister, an engineer was hired by the then-Culture, Youth and Sport Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, and the project was designed by him.
“When the government changed we took the designs they had.”
He further posited that “additional groundwork consisting of geotechnical studies were executed and revealed that the land on which the monument is earmarked to be completed is on “pagasse, which is old canefield swamp land”.
Patterson added that the statue itself weighs a whopping 17 tons, “which is quite heavy to put on a swamp area”. While expressing his concerns, he also mentioned that they are currently waiting on the government of India to get things back on track, since all of the necessary documentation that was requested by the Indian government was sent to them, inclusive of the results of the soil test.
Additionally, the Public Infrastructure Minister stressed that it is unfortunate that the monument could not be completed for the upcoming Indian Arrival Day activities on May 5th.
“One of the reasons for coming here is so that we can put a realistic timeline as to when it can be finished. It wouldn’t be available for Arrival Day, but obviously we are working to get the next most significant day between the Government of India and the Government of Guyana,” Patterson assured.
After the unexpected collapse of the base of the monument, Cabinet had made the decision that the Ministry of Public Infrastructure would assume responsibility for oversight of the project.
The team which included the Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, Minister of Social Cohesion, George Norton, Indian High Commission officials and regional officials, inspected the site and discussed the way forward. During the discussion, a representative from the Indian High Commission stated that the design was “very nice” but the basic soil testing should have been done before construction commenced.
The monument collapsed during its construction stage in April 2017 when the foundation weakened, causing the cylindrical structure to crumble to the ground.
Minister Trotman explained that it was during a visit to India in February 2018, alongside the Minister of Foreign Affairs, that the matter was raised by the foreign Minister of India and the government of India.
“We committed to have this monument completed, and in February the government of India offered to have an engineer, architect and sculptor assigned to the project”, Minister Trotman noted.
Trotman announced that the government is hoping for the monument to be completed by the end of 2018 or even an “almost complete” monument, since the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, is expected to Guyana during that time.
A cooperation agreement that was signed between the governments of Guyana and India has since been enforced and now being “accepted and activated”, according to the Minister of Public Infrastructure.
Minister Patterson said that the contract and design of the monument was done under the previous government, “all these things were done under Frank (Anthony) so it was just continued. It was at a point when the government changed, so the handing over process was ensued and we don’t know if they had these soil tests done”.
According to the Infrastructure Minister, an engineer was hired by the then-Culture, Youth and Sport Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, and the project was designed by him.
“When the government changed we took the designs they had.”
He further posited that “additional groundwork consisting of geotechnical studies were executed and revealed that the land on which the monument is earmarked to be completed is on “pagasse, which is old canefield swamp land”.
Patterson added that the statue itself weighs a whopping 17 tons, “which is quite heavy to put on a swamp area”. While expressing his concerns, he also mentioned that they are currently waiting on the government of India to get things back on track, since all of the necessary documentation that was requested by the Indian government was sent to them, inclusive of the results of the soil test.
Additionally, the Public Infrastructure Minister stressed that it is unfortunate that the monument could not be completed for the upcoming Indian Arrival Day activities on May 5th.
“One of the reasons for coming here is so that we can put a realistic timeline as to when it can be finished. It wouldn’t be available for Arrival Day, but obviously we are working to get the next most significant day between the Government of India and the Government of Guyana,” Patterson assured.
After the unexpected collapse of the base of the monument, Cabinet had made the decision that the Ministry of Public Infrastructure would assume responsibility for oversight of the project.
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