The role of Sam Sittlington

May 21, 2018 Letters

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Dear Editor,
No other government has been more dependent on foreign advisors and consultants than this APNU+AFC administration.
While importing expertise in various sectors was necessary to compensate for the lack of ministerial experience after the APNU+AFC took office in 2015, a troubling pattern has emerged. After three years, the Granger administration still lacks ministerial experience, and finds it easier to rape the treasury of billions of dollars to pay foreign consultants and advisors, putting the country deeper and deeper in debt.
ExxonMobil invited a delegation of five senior government ministers to Texas, and feted them on premium Texas steaks and US$2,500 per bottle Dom Pérignon.
And after giving them a US$18M farewell present, the Granger administration signed a lopsided contract with the folks at Exxon that will see us receiving a pittance.
Soon after, Government got rid of Presidential Advisor on Petroleum, Dr. Jan Mangal, who had the courage to fearlessly and publicly disclosed at a UG forum that the 2% royalty Guyana will receive from oil production was below international standards. He urged public pressure to force a renegotiation of the oil contract.
But while government kicked out this brilliant Guyanese-born, Dr. Mangal, they have called for more of our tax dollars to be wasted in hiring an international firm to tell the government what Jan Mangal and Bharrat Jagdeo had already advised them to do- auction off the remaining oil blocks.
And it gets even worse. Government just borrowed US$20M to hire more foreign consultants to advise them on the Sovereign Wealth Fund.
With all the retired police and army personnel now employed in the upper echelon of this APNU+AFC administration, a foreign security company was hired at great expense “to correct the errors of over two decades of mismanagement of the security sector,” according to President Granger.
Sadly, the crime rate is now worse than ever, driving fear in our homes and the business community, causing the US State Department to issue a report days ago, warning that Guyana’s crime threat is at a “critical level”.
Finance Minister, Winston Jordon, also has a foreign appetite. His slavish adherence to the International Monetary Fund which concludes that the Guyana economy is growing, when in reality, over 25,000 persons have lost their jobs under this uncaring APNU+AFC government and the ‘good life’ is way beyond the reach of ordinary Guyanese.
One can understand our Attorney General needing help to fight government’s cases at the CCJ, but despite the best legal brains in this country, he too has preference for foreign.
The Granger administration seems to have inherited a ‘massa’ mentality with a growing fondness and dependency for consultants from western countries.
While there is nothing wrong with seeking the professional services of foreign consultants/advisors, it is the slavish dependency on these foreigners that erodes our independence and gives me cause for concern… especially the one ‘calling the shots’ over at SOCU.
In a letter written by Robin Singh (Kaieteur News, April 24) captioned, “The implications of the charges against Brassington and Ashni Singh”, he concludes, “Dr. Sam Sittlington has no idea of what Guyana’s economic position was during the post PNC years having arrived post PPP. He must have assumed that Guyana was always economically stable and attractive to investors. Someone needs to educate the good doctor.”
Dr. Sam Sittlington is a financial crime expert and Director of ‘The Fraud Company’ which he owns. He is paid by the British Government as an Advisor to the Government of Guyana. His role is to speed-up processing of the more than 300 cases identified by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) stemming from 26 government-ordered forensic audits.
According to the British High Commissioner, His Excellency Greg Quinn, Sittlington will be providing advice on ongoing probes and will take no direct role in investigations. But is this really so?
In March of last year, Sittlington was seen celebrating in a city night spot with the Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, other government officials, investigators, and staff of the British High Commission after the arrests of Opposition officials, including former President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo.
When questioned, Ramjattan admitted, “The fact (is) that I had some wine with Sam on Wednesday evening at Oasis because I wanted to thank him for the great work he did at SOCU”. The British High Commissioner denied being there with his staff, but this was refuted by my colleague, former Attorney General Anil Nandlall who said, “I have consulted with my source, who was present at Oasis Café on Wednesday, 10th of March 2017, and who reiterates that, His Excellency, Mr Quinn, himself and two other staff members of the British High Commission, were present at the establishment.”
Mr. Editor, most Guyanese will recall the infamous role that the British High Commissioner played during the May 11, 2015 General and Regional Elections, announcing the election results in favour of APNU+AFC long before all the ballots were counted and any official announcement was made by GECOM.
One wonders what were in the reports that were dispatched to the UK Foreign Office in London, and whether the active participation of Sam Sittlington now is being encouraged to justify those reports that were sent by the High Commissioner prior to the 2015 elections.
I am convinced that the UK Foreign Office may not be aware and will never condone the high level of political interference and intrusion in the affairs of a sovereign nation involving the British High Commissioner and his countryman.
And I urge all Guyanese living in the UK to write their British MPs and the Foreign Office in London, asking the UK government to stop their Envoys’ intrusion in our domestic affairs.
So what is the role of Sam Sittlington? Most believe he has now exceeded his official remit and trespassed into operational matters at SOCU.
According to the Leader of the Opposition, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo: “I have information that Mr Sittlington has been on raids with SOCU; he has gone into the premises of nationals of Guyana as part of these raids – being part of operations themselves. So if the British High Commissioner is saying that he has no operational mandate as part of his job, then he will be open (to an investigation)… We have a foreigner here who is trespassing on the rights of Guyanese citizens, tolerated by our Government.”
Indeed, Dr. Sam Sittlington was seen directing activities on at least three SOCU operations that I am aware of:
– On February 3rd of last year, he was photographed standing in the doorway as agents of SOCU executed a raid on the Guyana Rice Development Board.
-Then on March 7th of last year, he was in the same vehicle with the Head of SOCU, former GDF Lieutenant Colonel Sydney James when SOCU arrived at the Office the Leader of the Opposition in Church Street to arrest Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo.
-Sittlington was also an unwanted guest in the home of a private businessman who is now afraid to give a statement.
It would appear that Sittlington is a willing participant, dancing to the tune of the APNU+AFC coalition government with the approval of the High Commissioner, to target former PPP/C ministers and officials.
He sees this as an opportunity to pad his résumé with the arrest and conviction of former ministers of government to increase traffic to his website, making his company more marketable.
Despite the lack of evidence, he is willing to recommend frivolous and fabricated charges against Dr. Ashni Singh and Winston Brassington, compromising his own professional ethics, hoping somehow, with government now interfering with the judiciary, those charges will stick. That will not happen.
There is evidence of wholesale corruption and financial fraud being committed by government ministers during the 3 years of this APNU+AFC Administration, yet he turns a blind eye to the rape of the treasury and the unconscionable misuse of public funds. After 2020, Sam Sittlington may himself be the subject of a criminal investigation along with those he now protects in government.
Harry Gill
PPP/C Member of Parliament

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