Carvil Duncan faces pressure to resign from constitutional bodies

Apr 20, 2016 News

Former Board member of the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL), Carvil Duncan, who is facing criminal

Under Pressure:
Carvil Duncan

charges in the courts, is under pressure to step down from a number of constitutional office positions he holds.
Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, a Government statement said, has written the trade unionist requesting that he show cause why a tribunal should not be established, as provided for by Article 225 of the Constitution of Guyana, to address the question of his removal from the constitutional offices.
Duncan sits as Chairman of the Public Service Commission; Member of the Police Service Commission and Member of the Judicial Service Commission.
“Prime Minister Nagamootoo wrote to Mr. Duncan in view of the offences for which he has been charged, which are at present engaging the attention of the court,” the release said.
Nagamootoo advised Duncan, in the letter, that the procedure has been invoked on the basis that the offences for which he has been charged place him in a position where it is necessary for him to defend the charges before the court.
“And further, that there is concern that during this period he will be unable to perform the duties imposed upon him by the Constitution in relation to the aforementioned constitutional offices that he holds.”
Nagamootoo advised Duncan that he regarded the letter as his opportunity to inform the exercise of his (the Prime Minister’s) discretion to advise President David Granger whether to establish the tribunal.
The letter was dispatched on March 29, 2016 and the Prime Minister requested a response within 14 days of receipt.
“To date the Prime Minister has received no response,” the release noted.

PM Moses Nagamootoo

Duncan was slapped with three charges, related to monies from the Guyana Power and Light Inc. “Imagine he is appearing before a Magistrate, who will be subjected to decisions made by him as a member of the Judicial Service Commission. Additionally, he was charged by ranks of the Guyana Police Force, whom he may have to deal with at the level of the Police Service Commission, of which Duncan is also a member,” an attorney-at-law had told this newspaper.
But Duncan does not see it that way.
“I do not see it that way. The matter is being looked at by my lawyer,” Duncan told Kaieteur News in an invited comment back in February.
Duncan, in late February, was placed on $1M bail after he pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Police alleged that on March 31, 2015 at Georgetown, he stole $984,900, property of GPL.
It is also accused on the same day at Georgetown, that he conspired with GPL’s then Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Aeshwar Deonarine to steal $984,900, property of the power company and that he conspired with Deonarine to commit a felony, that is to say between May 7 and 8 at Georgetown, he conspired to steal $27,757,500, property of the utility company.
According to Duncan the charges are merely allegations. “Anybody is innocent until proven guilty,” he said.
The Prime Minister had said then that he believes that it’s up to the embattled Duncan to do the honourable thing and remove himself from the Constitutional Commissions he currently sits on.
“I would expect that there would be a public interest side of this. I’m not judging him, because a man is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty. But it’s maybe up to him to withdraw from all of these positions,” the Prime Minister had told this newspaper.
Duncan holds top position in the Guyana Labour Union and the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG), two bodies that aligned itself with the previous administration.