Latest update April 9th, 2025 12:59 AM
Political interference hampered SOCU
Guyana needs an independent body to go after grand corruption – UK Expert, Dr. Sittlington
“Having 100 experts on financial crimes would not help. You need the will to go after grand corruption… there needs to be an independent authority which should not be interfered with by any ministry…” – Dr. Sittlington
By Kiana Wilburg
UK Expert on Financial Crimes,
Dr. Sam Sittlington
If Guyana is to make any serious headway in successfully tackling grand corruption, the nation must have an agency that is free from interference, and staffed with individuals who have the will to battle this scourge.
This is according to UK Financial Crimes Expert, Dr. Sam Sittlington.
The international consultant was alluding to the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) which he subsequently acknowledged was hampered by interference.
Dr. Sam Sittlington was also a former advisor to SOCU on anti-money laundering and other matters.
During an exclusive interview with this newspaper, Dr. Sittlington said, “Having 100 experts on financial crimes would not help. You need the will to go after grand corruption, and from my experience, there is just too much interference. For grand corruption to be handled once and for all, there needs to be an independent authority which should not be interfered with by any ministry.”
The Financial Crimes Expert said that such a body should have its own prosecutors, along with a special judge to hear such cases.
While noting the importance of such an agency, he was keen to note that it would need robust legislation which promotes transparency and accountability. In this regard, Dr. Sittlington noted that there is no anticorruption legislation that is fit for purpose in Guyana. In the same breath, he highlighted that Guyana would certainly need to review its existing laws to remove provisions that allow perpetrators of grand corruption wiggle-room to escape punishment.
“When you consider the fact that ministers cannot be prosecuted for abuse of office because they use the argument that they are not in a public office, those are simple things which can be changed by definition…And the Constitution probably needs to be looked at as well to stop the perpetrators of grand corruption from stealing billions of dollars from the Guyanese people and then they can’t be prosecuted properly because of lack of legislation.”
Dr. Sittlington also noted that one of the biggest impediments to Guyana’s success in arresting grand corruption is the fact that
the investigators are not knowledgeable or experienced enough to investigate fraud or money laundering crimes.
“…Although they have had loads of training, they don’t understand the concept…I believe therefore that there needs to be a two-pronged approach to this; there should be basic training for investigators and for senior officers and there should be an advanced training course on dealing with these types of offences.”
The Financial Crimes Expert expressed that it is not beyond Guyana to address grand corruption once and for all. He stressed, however, that the right elements need to be in place. He said that this includes the use of advanced technological systems for crime fighting, addressing the draconian judicial system and the sloth of prosecutors, ensuring the provision of training for investigators, getting the right people at SOCU and other law enforcement bodies to ensure the job is professionally done and last but not least, bring on board robust legislation.
Once the foregoing are in place and are backed by political will, Dr. Sittlington says that Guyana would be on its way to actually addressing grand corruption instead of engaging in repetitions of its intentions to do so.
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