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Fraud Company owned by former SOCU advisor, Sam Sittlington, winds up
A company that was set up by Dr. Sam Sittlington, former advisor of the police’s Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), has been wou
Dr. Sam Sittlington
nd up.
According to the Official Gazette of Guyana, dated May 4th, under the Companies Act, Number 29th of 1991, The Fraud Company (Guyana) Inc. has been removed from the Register.
The Official Gazette also said that “Notice is hereby given pursuant to Section 404 of the Companies Act, 1991 that the under mentioned company has been voluntary wound up by special resolution dated the 15th April, 2019”.
Sittlington’s contract with the British Government—guiding his stint in Guyana—stipulated that he was only supposed to work for that government as an advisor to SOCU, the crack unit that was pursuing a number of high profile cases involving officials of the previous administration of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic.
But, last year, Dr. Sam Sittlington went ahead and registered a local branch of a fraud-detecting company, which he owns in the United Kingdom. He named it “The Fraud Company (Guyana)”.
Dr. Sittlington’s contract would have come to a natural end in March 2020. However, it was terminated early February after news broke about his pursuit of private gains here.
The British High Commission had this to say, “In light of the information about Dr. Sam Sittlington’s private business interests, his contract in Guyana has been terminated with immediate effect.”
Sittlington had been seen on a number of operations, including raids, of SOCU. There had been questions about what exactly his role was – operational or advisory.
The Fraud Company (Guyana) Inc. was incorporated under the Companies Act of Guyana on September 25, 2018. Sittlington, was listed as the Director, while Orisa Branche was the Secretary.
Sittlington was hired by the British government for a Guyana assignment in 2016, in an advisory and training capacity at SOCU. This newspaper had received a package containing copies of The Fraud Company (Guyana)’s registration and a note from an unidentified source.
The note stated, “It is highly unethical for a consultant who is being paid by a foreign government to advise and train a sensitive department such as SOCU to establish a company, which will undertake similar work.”
The concerned citizen continued, “The consultant is privy to highly confidential information on numerous persons, as SOCU has embarked on fishing expeditions on most of the cases under investigation.”
It was further stated that, “information gleaned from SOCU could be used inappropriately”.
The suggestion was that Sittlington could use the information he gathers through SOCU to advance his private business.
Sittlington’s company in the United Kingdom was established long before he was hired to come to assist Guyana. However, this newspaper understands that he nevertheless took the job under the agreement that he would operate only on behalf of the United Kingdom in Guyana.
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