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Ten billions dollars? No way, Jose!

Jul 04, 2016 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

When you hear the acronym SOCU you have to be careful. This is an organization which came in for a lot of criticisms over its modus operandi over the past year.
Guyanese have had their taste of the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU). A solider and his wife are dead because of the reckless approach of this organization.
The solider was not part of SOCU and should not have been part of any operation. He was, however, put to do  surveillance on a house and ended up watching the wrong house and going after the wrong people. He lost his life and that of his wife. His children are now orphans.
There has been no report as to disciplinary action being taken in this matter. The public is disinterested in pressing for such action to be taken even though two persons have lost their lives.
Yet the public is buzzing with excitement over the news that an official of the Ministry of the Presidency who also served under the Ramotar administration is under investigation for alleged money laundering and tax evasion.
The reports in the media have been sensational. While quoting no one, there has been mention that some ten billion dollars were secreted in three banks accounts. This clearly is beyond comprehension. There is no way that anyone is going to be allowed within Guyana’s banking system to have  accounts with so much money. It is simply untenable and unbelievable.
There is ‘nancy’ story and there is ‘fancy’ story. The ten billion dollar story belongs in a category of itself. It sounds more like a fairy tale.
The banking system will come under greater scrutiny if it allowed this sum of money to be held in the accounts of a man and his associate. The banking system in Guyana is not as lax as some people may feel and there is no way that it would have allowed ten billion dollars to be held in three accounts.
There is no person in Guyana who will have an account with hundreds of millions of dollars much less with billions. This is simply unfathomable.
SOCU has not attempted to offer any explanation as what it is investigating. There has been some talk about tax evasion but it is clearly not the work of SOCU to be delving into tax evasion case. The Guyana Revenue Authority is the agency that has to deal with this matter.
SOCU has a credibility crisis on its hands after its last publicized surveillance operation and therefore it has to be wary that it is not fueling false expectations over this matter.
If the sums being bandied about are true then such an investigation is beyond the resources of SOCU and it should have sought international help.
The furor over billions of dollars found in accounts has of course led to speculation as to the source of the funds. It surely could not have come from the State because this would mean that the forensic auditors did not pick it up or were investigating the wrong agencies. The forensic audits have only found that US$5M is owed to Guyana by China. It has not found any billions that are missing.
The nation therefore should not get too excited. There are wolves out there just waiting to pounce on any bit of juicy evidence that would implicate officials who served under the previous administration but its stretches the limits of credulity to accept that ten billons dollars can be held in bank accounts in Guyana. This has to be a fanciful tale.
We therefore have to wait and see what this case will boil down to. It is doubtful whether SOCU has the capacity at this stage to prosecute a case of this nature. It is questionable whether it has the resources to investigate money laundering. SOCU may have overreached in this instance but we will only know that as the investigation unfolds.

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