SOCU is dancing to Soca and smoking Conga pump

Oct 25, 2016 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

It has been seventeen months since the APNU/AFC Coalition came into power and SOCU could only come up with a middle range state manager to charge for criminal misconduct during the reign of the PPP. It is not only laughable, it is dangerously deceptive. The contention here is not to dispute the allegation against Mr. Nizam Hassan when he was general-manager of Guyana Marketing Corporation.
My query is if this is all SOCU could come up with since the Coalition promised anti-corruption investigations into the criminal behaviour of former big wigs in government? Didn’t we have a few dozen forensic audits that revealed some shockingly disturbing stuff against many of these big wigs?
Is SOCU telling the people of this country they could find no evidence so far to bring charges against the people who pioneered Pradoville 2? Whether they are white-collar workers or labourers or teachers or clerks or cashiers, the people of this country are not that foolish to believe that after dozens of forensic audits only the former GMC manager the net hauled in. Let me be pellucid; I don’t believe that; I don’t accept it and I urge the Guyanese people not to accept it.
A cursory reading of the forensic audits reveals criminal behaviour. Enter Khemraj Ramjatan. Minister Ramjattan told the nation that prosecution from discoveries from the forensic audits is a formidable task because getting witnesses to testify is problematic. So who is going to testify against Hassan? Does SOCU have witnesses that will give testimony in court? If the answer is yes, then it is logical to assert that there must be witnesses in other situations of criminal conduct. If the answer is no then we have entered the realm of deception.
I say deception because it is not possible to have witnesses testify against Jennifer Westford, Carvil Duncan, and Hassan if he is charged but not the other persons named in the forensic audits. I am asserting my opinion that this is surreptitious and conspiratorial. For this reason I am being cynical. SOCU is dancing to Soca music and smoking Conga pump rather than doing professional police work. I stand by my cynicism.
The government of Guyana has requested Interpol’s help in locating a Guyanese who was charged for fraud at GPL when he was an Assistant Manager. If he is returned to Guyana, it is absolutely certain he will be charged. His alleged crime is that he awarded himself $27 million in back pay. Does the State have witnesses to testify against him? If yes, then why not against all those Ministers, including the NICIL head, Winston Brassington.
Can SOCU state if it has evidence of criminal wrong-doing against people like Brassington and former Ministers? If the investigations are ongoing and SOCU officials cannot answer then can SOCU say if they have materials to work with from the forensic audits that could see charges against officials of the former administration?
When I read that charges have been recommended against Mr. Hassan, I thought of Hamlet and perhaps one of the most popular quotes ever of Shakespeare, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” Something conspiratorially rotten is taking place in the state of Guyana and it involves the reluctance of PNC and AFC leaders to pursue persons in the former PPP Government that have committed criminal violations involving state funds.
President Granger should be careful what he says on the subject. He told Parliament that persons who stole state property will be brought to justice. The word to note is “those.” The President never referenced “PPP leaders” or “former Ministers.” He said “those.” So “those” plausibly include low level state managers. My feeling is that the Hassan thing is the beginning of a game where SOCO and SARU will proceed to prosecute officials when the PPP ruled corruptly but the PPP’s kings and queens will be spared.
This columnist is saying with pellucid assertiveness, we will not see charges against Pradoville 2 beneficiaries. We will not see any indictments against Winston Brassington. There will be no governmental allegations against Bharrat Jagdeo and his Ministers. One of Jagdeo’s Ministers sold his radio station to a Trinidad company and collected about $90 million. But we picked on Carvil for less than a million dollars.
Carvil’s matter is in front the courts so I cannot comment. But this I can say; I cannot accept charging Duncan for $900,000 while others get away with hundreds of millions of dollars. Something is not only rotten in the state of Guyana. It has always been a rotten state in Guyana.

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