Ruling looms in GMC trial

Oct 10, 2017 News

Nizam Hassan

Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan is set to make a ruling in the trial of Nizam Hassan and Felecia De Souza-Madramootoo who are accused of conspiring with others to approve payments for low-standard works on the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) building on Robb and Alexander Streets, Georgetown.
Yesterday, the Chief Magistrate announced that she will make a ruling in the matter on October 20 and/or call on Hassan and De Souza-Madramootoo to lead defences. This was after Police Prosecutor Neville Jeffers responded to no case submissions from Attorneys-at-Law Marcell Babb and Glen Hanoman, who are representing Hassan and De Souza-Madramootoo respectively.
It is alleged that between October 28, 2010 and April 25, 2012, Hassan, the former General Manager at GMC, and De Souza-Madramootoo, conspired with each other to continuously approve payments which were made to contractor of Constantine Engineering and Construction Services Limited, Trinidad and Tobago, for works that were incompetently and incorrectly done with inferior materials to rehabilitate the GMC building, knowing that such works should not have been approved.
Hassan of Good Hope, East Coast Demerara and De Souza-Madramootoo of Lusignan, East Coast Demerara, have both pleaded not guilty to the charge. They were each released on $250,000 bail, with instructions to report to the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) until determination of the matter.
Charges were recommended against Hassan and De Souza-Madramootoo after SOCU completed its report into the investigations of the multimillion-dollar construction of the GMC office building.
A forensic audit report submitted in April 2016 by auditor, Saykar Boodhoo, had flagged the construction, citing several worrying things at GMC, an agency of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Felecia De Souza-Madramootoo

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.
The forensic audit which triggered the recommendations for the charges would tell a worrying tale of how things were at GMC between January 1, 2012 and May 31, 2015, the time under review.
With regards to the construction of the building, in 2011 a contract was awarded to Constantine Engineering and Construction Services to build a new head office for GMC and the Guyana Shop, which it runs. A contract in the amount of $23.96M was awarded by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB). However, the auditor could not review the bidding documents, as NPTAB could not find any information that it was involved in the tender process, even though the contract indicated otherwise.

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