Terminations, transfers to follow SOCU audit report

May 04, 2019 News

There will be disciplinary action taken to remedy the issues laid out in the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) audit report, according to Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan. That will include terminations for some, and transfers for others.
An audit of the financial records of the SOCU had uncovered serious irregularities, including the falsification of records.
That audit was ordered by Police Commissioner Leslie James in February, following claims of grave mismanagement. It has recommended immediate transfers and a fraud investigation of several of the discrepancies.
The PPP had demanded not just that the unit be investigated with intent to prosecute, but that Ramjattan resign immediately.
In a release, the party had stated that it has been publicly complaining about SOCU for some time now, that the unit of the Guyana Police Force is removed from its mandate of combatting organised crimes and money laundering, and that it has been reduced to a rogue unit “carrying out political directions to witch hunt PPP leaders and shake down the business community under the pretext of crime fighting.”
According to Ramjattan, “Action will be taken by the commissioner. I have seen the report. It is not a very nice report, and the commissioner has told me that he is going to take action.”
However, Ramjattan said that he is not well informed on the details of that action.
“A minister must not indulge in [operational matters]. He ordered an audit after coming by information. That audit has been completed, and [the commissioner] will take action.”
Ramjattan added: “Institutions can get rotten. What a government does is, through its leadership at the various units, ask for audits, get the things right and move on. And put the correct people in places, [who] could remedy the defects that were occurring. That is what you do in any institution. That is the self-redeeming feature of institutional democracy.”

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