GRDB forensic audit probe…Police file five charges against absent GRDB accountant

Jun 02, 2017 News

…to seek arrest warrant

Yesterday the police filed five charges against the former accountant of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) Peter Ramcharran. The five charges are all for falsification of accounts while he was employed at that entity.
The charges were read by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in Ramcharran’s absence. The former accountant is now residing in Canada and is reportedly reluctant to return because he believes his life could be in danger.
Special prosecutor Patrice Henry told the court that Ramcharran was aware that he should have been in court yesterday, however he did not present himself.
The Chief Magistrate told the court that at the next hearing on June 15 the head of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) will need to be present in court to confirm that Ramcharran was indeed informed that he should have been at court yesterday.
This request by the Chief Magistrate would suggest that the Guyana Police Force is sure to issue an arrest warrant for the former accountant.
One official close to the investigation told Kaieteur News that the police are likely to issue the arrest warrant at the beginning of next week.
This latest charges come on the heel of six former GRDB board members being charged for failing to make a proper entry into a register of a company. The six officials that were charged are former General Manager of the GRDB Jagnarine Singh; General Secretary of the Rice Producers Association and former GRDB board member, Dharamkumar Seeraj; Former Deputy General Manager Madanlall Ramraj; Former Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Amerindian Affairs and former GRDB Board member, Nigel Dharamlall; Former General Manager of Guyana Oil Company and former GRDB board member, Badrie Persaud; and Deputy Permanent Secretary Finance Ministry of Agriculture, Prema Roopnarine.
Head of SOCU, Assistant Commissioner Sydney James had said that his organization wants to question Ramcharran since investigations have revealed that he has been heavily implicated with the six persons who were recently charged.
According to James, Ramcharran was responsible for ‘signing off’ on a number of questionable transactions that were traced to the six officials charged and others caught up in the GRDB probe.
This newspaper has learnt that Ramcharran who left Guyana for Canada moments before the GRDB forensic audit was commissioned has been speaking with SOCU agents.
This newspaper has learnt that Ramcharran was asked to return to answer for his questionable financial decision-making. However he allegedly told SOCU agents that he was fearful of returning to Guyana since his life could be in danger.
The GRDB found itself in the spotlight after a forensic audit of that entity uncovered a number of irregularities. The report noted that over a three to four-year period, more than US$500M from the PetroCaribe proceeds (Venezuela rice-for-oil deal) would have passed through the accounts of the entity.
Among some of the “anomalies” found were loans without proper paperwork or promissory notes.
There were other instances of persons in the agency using GRDB money to trade in foreign currency.
The losses for the Government would have been significant, especially if the money was traded for less than it should have been.
The Auditor General and the forensic audit reports have all pointed to severe deficiencies in the manner the monies of the state have been handled by the entities.

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