Many are getting away with stealing

Feb 28, 2010 Features / Columnists, My Column

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For as long as one can remember there have been accusations against governments of harbouring corruption. Some of us old enough are aware that during the Burnham tenure, allegations of corruption were investigated to the fullest and if found guilty, people paid the price.
The name Bernard Scantlebury comes readily to mind. He was the remigration officer responsible for processing people returning to Guyana. It would seem that there were people who paid him although they would not have paid him too much because the money would have been spotted and he would have been in serious trouble.
Scantlebury’s trouble came when he ended up driving a Datsun Bluebird. It was a lovely car at that time and it appeared to be large. Burnham spotted this car at a funeral that was held at St Saviour’s Anglican Church and enquired of the owner. He learnt that it belonged to Bernard Scantlebury and immediately he mounted an investigation.
The rest is history. Scantlebury was charged and died before he could go to trial.
It was the same thing with Minister of Housing David Singh. Eusi Kwayana filed a complaint against David Singh and Hamilton Green who was the Works Minister. The matter was heard by the Ombudsman who found that there was not enough to convict Green of a dishonest act but that a case was made against David Singh.
Needless to say, it took all of six months for David Singh’s head of hair to go from jet black to grey. The man died not long after.
I am one who remains convinced that despite all the talk about Burnham being one of the richest men on earth, that whatever he earned he did so honestly and I am certain that he never condoned corruption. An examination of his Ministers tells a most revealing tale. Their homes are modest by any standard and a far cry from the homes of the Ministers of today.
I point to these things because four weeks after Kaieteur News pulled the plug on the Regional Executive Officer, the police issued a wanted bulletin for the man having accused him of stealing millions of dollars from the state.
Shafdar Ali, the Regional Executive Officer, should not have been allowed to steal millions of dollars. In the first place he could not have been the only signatory to cheques.
He therefore had to enjoy the support of someone inside the Regional Democratic Council. Failing this, he could have approached the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government, Sewchand, and got pretty much what he wanted.
I am not sure what happened, how Shafdar Ali got his hands on the money, because at some time or the other the expenditure would have been vetted by the regional councilors. Perhaps he paid for jobs that were not done with the support of the investigating councilor.
I remember that President Bharrat Jagdeo, when approached about corruption, said that should anyone provide him with the evidence then he would act condignly. I am not sure that the Head of State is the micromanager that people want to believe.
For example, I raised the story of the Guyoil accounts clerk who bought a house for $60 million while she was working for a salary of about $45,000 a month. President Jagdeo and Head of the Guyana Revenue Authority Khurshid Sattaur promised me that an investigation was underway. Months have passed but nothing has happened.
I do not feel like resurrecting history but I know of many cases of corrupt acts that were brought to the authorities.
There was one involving a Regional Executive Officer who bought a low bed for the Rose Hall Town Council under questionable circumstances.
He was removed from his job and when last I checked he was a very senior official at Freedom House in New Amsterdam.
I learnt on Friday that President Jagdeo intervened when someone told him that a village overseer in cahoots with the Neighbourhood Democratic Council chairman was trying to sell a plot of land that had been earmarked for a playground.
The overseer has been sent home for a month and the Minister of Local Government is still contemplating action against the chairman.
There are other cases of condign action although not many head to court because the view is that the evidence might not be firm enough to procure a conviction. I say rubbish (although I would have liked to use a much stronger word).
The word is that Shafdar Ali was allowed to flee the jurisdiction before the police could act and I have no reason to doubt this. The red flags were going up all the time. The Regional Chairman complained about unapproved expenditure by the Regional Executive Officer to no avail.
When he tried to have him sacked the courts ruled against him and his cohorts made a big splash in the pages of the newspapers. It became a political thing.
From my little hole, I have seen investigations into perceived corrupt practices incur the ire of the administration. I made some enemies as did Glenn Lall and Kaieteur News. Our reporters were vilified.
People accused Kaieteur News of wanting to bring down the government. The truth is that the evidence of corruption was glaring and at least, the people who were paying taxes deserved a break.
We now hear that millions of dollars earmarked for Region Four disappeared into someone’s pocket. This means that some work was not undertaken and of course the taxpayer has to pay even more to have this job done.
Run Shafdar. Run.

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