GMC duo to go on trial for fraud conspiracy next month

Mar 21, 2017 News

– Prosecution to call 34 witnesses

The trial of Nizam Hassan, former General Manager at the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) and

CHARGED: Nizam Hassan, Former General Manager of GMC

Felecia De Souza-Madramootoo who are charged with conspiracy to procure money will commence on April 3.
The trial is based on the allegation that the defendants sought to be paid by false pretence in relation to the approval of payments for low-graded rehabilitation works done on the GMC building at Robb Street, Georgetown.
Police Prosecutor Deniro Jones has disclosed that he intends to call a total of 34 witnesses.
In the meantime, Hassan, 50, of Good Hope, East Coast Demerara and De Souza-Madramootoo, 34, of Lusignan, East Coast Demerara have each been released on $250,000 bail. The duo has been instructed to report to the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) Headquarters, Camp Road, Georgetown and instructed to lodge their passports with the court.
It is alleged that between October 28, 2010 and April 25, 2012, they conspired with each other to commit the offence by continuously approving payments which were made to the contractor of the engineering firm for works that were incompetently and incorrectly done with inferior materials to rehabilitate the GMC building at Robb and Alexander Streets, Bourda, Georgetown; knowing that such works should not have been approved.
Also charged with the offence were Hanniel Madramootoo, the husband of De Souza-Madramootoo, his brother Phillip Madramootoo and his friend Nizam Ramkissoon, Directors of

CHARGED: Felecia De Souza-Madramootoo

Constantine Engineering and Construction Services Limited, Trinidad and Tobago. However, the charges were withdrawn against them based on advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Charges were recommended against Hassan and the other persons after the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) completed its report into the investigations of the multimillion-dollar construction of the GMC office building.
A forensic audit report submitted last year April by auditor, Saykar Boodhoo, had flagged the construction, citing several worrying things at GMC, an agency of the Ministry of Agriculture. The forensic audit report was sent to Cabinet where it was decided that the findings of the report were serious enough to warrant a deeper investigation into not only the construction of the building but also into the handling of hundreds of millions of dollars of fertilizers.

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