Multi-billion$ PetroCaribe probe… Extradited GRDB accountant whisked from airport to SOCU to jail -39 charges read

Mar 07, 2019 News

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A former accountant of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) who was ordered extradited by Canadian courts last December, has been refused bail here.
Peter Ramcharran landed shortly after 7am yesterday on a Caribbean Airlines flight from that North American country. He was escorted by two Canadian border officials, including a female.
At the Timehri airport, he was handed over to officials of the police’s Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), placed in a tinted vehicle and escorted to the unit’s headquarters on Camp Road.
With an hour or so, he was taken to the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
He had been detained by the Canadian authorities, at the behest of the Government of Guyana, since 2017.
Guyana asked for his extradition to face fraud-related charges pertaining to his duties at GRDB, which was the executing agency for a major oil-for-rice deal worth billions with Venezuela.
That deal was ended suddenly in 2015 by a hostile Venezuela after this Coalition Government came to office.
At the court yesterday, after an arrest warrant had been issued for him, Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan read a total of 39 charges to the accused. He was represented by attorney-at-law Sase Gunraj.
Ramcharran was dressed in a formal shirt and khaki long pants.
Representing the State for the matter was attorney-at-law Patrice Henry, one of the special prosecutors retained by Government to work with SOCU on a number of forensic audit files on state agencies.
The hearing began just after 10am. Before the charges were read, Magistrate McLennan asked the defendant to explain why he had been evading the courts.
In his response, Ramcharran stated, “I was not informed by any official of Guyana about these charges.”
His attorney moved to give context, as he stated his client learnt of an arrest warrant being issued for him through the public media. “My client had to learn of these charges and arrest warrant being issued by public media. After learning of this, Mr. Ramcharran had no other option but to take conditions to prepare himself.”
A heated exchange ensued for about 10 minutes between Gunraj and the magistrate. The magistrate wanted to know if the defence was accusing the investigating rank into the matter of lying under oath.

HE KNEW
According to the Special Prosecutor, Ramcharran was very much aware that he was wanted. In fact, a lawyer had visited SOCU’s office on his behalf.

In the prisoners’ dock, the defendant stood quietly as all 39 charges were read out to him. The charges took the magistrate a period of about 20 minutes to read out.
Ramcharran was charged for fraudulent conversion and misappropriation that allegedly took place between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2015, and involving tens of millions of dollars.
The total is said to be over $400M.
Persons in the courtroom could be heard gasping at the sums of money mentioned in the charges.
The accused was not required to plead to the charges as they were all indictable.

It was disclosed that Ramcharran, 30, has a local address of Lot 32 Area ‘G’ Goedverwagting, East Coast Demerara.
In his application for “reasonable” bail, the attorney asked that he should be treated like his other co-accused.
Gunraj complained too that he was not given enough time to speak with his client because of the quick transfer from SOCU’s office to the court.
Prosecutor Henry objected to bail being granted to the defendant under the grounds that investigations are still ongoing which may see other charges being brought.
He also noted that the prosecution was unable to confirm the home address given to the court by the defense.
Ramcharran’s lawyer insisted that the prosecution does not have evidence, since the allegations were made two years ago, thus there would have been enough time to complete investigations.
However, the Chief Magistrate was not convinced. She refused bail, citing the fact that Ramcharran had evaded the court and as such posed a flight risk.
The matter was adjourned until March 25, when all the defendants are expected to make their next court appearance.
He is being jointly charged with former General Manager of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) Jagnarine Singh; former Deputy General Manager of GRDB Madanlall Ramraj; General Secretary of the Producers Association (RPA), Dharamkumar Seeraj; former Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, Nigel Dharamlall; former General Manager of the Guyana Oil Company Badrie Persaud and the Deputy Permanent Secretary Finance Ministry of Agriculture, Prema Roopnarine.
In Canada, Ramcharran had first applied for refugee status. After he was turned down in December, he sought a review of his extradition process but this was recently turned down.
In 2017, the Chief Magistrate had issued an arrest warrant.
The Government of Guyana in turn had asked the Canadian authorities to send Ramcharran back.
The GRDB found itself in the spotlight after a forensic audit of that entity revealed among some of the “anomalies” found were loans without proper paperwork or promissory notes.
According to information, the former accountant is heavily implicated in the probe with regards to the six former GRDB board members who have pleaded not guilty to the allegations.
Ramcharran had reportedly been studying in Canada, when authorities swooped down on him in June 2017 following a request for his extradition.
A forensic audit, one of several ordered by the Coalition Government, had found several alarming things at GRDB.
Forensics
From about 2009 to 2015, Guyana, under the administrations of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic, had entered a multi-billion-dollar oil-for-rice arrangement where GRDB was clearing out for farmers. However, millions of dollars of those monies were reportedly siphoned off via third-party arrangements including rental of ships and other sweetheart deals for a few millers.
SOCU is investigating other aspects of the audit report.
With regards to extraditions, it is not often that Guyana is successful in its quests from especially North American countries.
The extradition of Ramcharran would be seen as a huge plus for authorities here who have been insisting that it is a tool in the fight against crime, particularly of the white-collar variety.

 

 

 

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