Retired officers, others charged for $10M police fraud

May 21, 2021 News

Retired Assistant Commissioner of Police, Clinton Conway.

Retired Senior Superintendent Michael Sutton.

Police Finance Officer, Assistant Superintendent Marlon Kellman.

Kaieteur News – Current Chairman of the Police Service Commission and retired Assistant Commissioner of Police, Paul Slowe, along with several other retired high-ranking officers of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and members of the Force were yesterday slapped with a joint conspiracy to defraud charge. One of the defendants was also slapped with an individual misconduct in public office charge.
Those charged are retired officers: Assistant Commissioner, Clinton Conway; Assistant Commissioner, Claude Whittaker; Senior Superintendent George Fraser; Senior Superintendent Michael Sutton and Superintendent Mark Gilbert. Other serving members of the GPF charged are: former Police Finance Officer, Senior Superintendent Marcelene Washington; serving Assistant Commissioner, Royston Andries-Junor; and Police Finance Officer, Assistant Superintendent Marlon Kellman.
The charges were brought against the defendants by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), an arm of the GPF.
The matter was called in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Principal Magistrate, Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus. The defendants are being represented by a team of lawyers consisting of Nigel Hughes, Patrice Henry, Darren Wade, Dexter Todd, Dennis Paul, Everton Lammy Singh and Narissa Leander.
The court was informed that Slowe and Washington are out of the jurisdiction and as such the charges were read to the defendants present in court.
The joint charge alleges that Slowe, Conway, Whittaker, Fraser, Gilbert, Andries-Junor, Washington, Sutton and Kellman between March 1, 2019 and July 7, 2020, at the police headquarters, Eve Leary, conspired together with others to defraud the GPF of $10,056,000. The charge further alleges that Slowe, Conway, Whittaker, Fraser and Gilbert were paid the sum of $10,056,000, without following the correct procedures, in allegedly reviewing the Force’s Standing Orders, which had already been reviewed.
The aforementioned charge was laid indictable and the defendants were not required to enter a plea. Principal Magistrate Isaacs-Marcus granted them bail in the sum of $100,000 each and the matter was adjourned to June 3, 2021.
According to the facts of the charge, a SOCU investigation had revealed that retired Commissioner of Police, Leslie James, solely hired Slowe, Conway, Whittaker, Gilbert and Fraser, to conduct a complete revision of the Force’s Standing Orders during March 2019. It was noted that the former Commissioner, had failed to prepare a budget for the revision and also did not make any contractual agreements specifying what needed to be revised and the terms of payment for the job.

Retired Senior Superintendent George Fraser.

retired Assistant Commissioner, Claude Whittaker.

retired Senior Superintendent Mark Gilbert.

He never sent for nor received approval from the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Public Security nor the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board. The payments amounted to over ten million dollars. As such it should have been budgeted and sent to Tender Board for approval.
The Force’s Standing Orders comprise of 104 orders and it was discovered that the former officers were reportedly paid for the job but had not completed the revision. Moreover, according to reports the Orders that they were hired to revise had already been revised in its entirety during the period July 2018 and March 2019, by highly qualified and competent policy analysts of the Strategic Planning Unit (SPU).
Additionally it is further alleged that the former Head of the Strategic Planning Unit (SPU), Assistant Commissioner, Royston Andries-Junor, had instructed for payment accounts to be prepared for each ex-lawmen from March 2019. Andries-Junor was later transferred from SPU during November 2019, but before moving he had instructed the new head, Nicola Kendall, to continue making payment to the accounts for the retired officers – Kendall had reportedly done as she was instructed until February 2020.
Conway had told this publication, that they were paid $3,000 per hour and that the payment stopped after Kendall informed him and others that they were instructed not to do any more work on the Standing Orders until the pandemic is over. The retired officers reportedly reviewed 68 Standing Orders.
While Sutton and Washington are implicated in the joint conspiracy charge and are accused of conspiring with others to defraud the State, Sutton was also slapped with an individual misconduct in public office charge. That charge alleges that between July 1, 2019 and July 31, 2019, at the police headquarters, Eve Leary, while being and performing duties as Finance Officer for the GPF, he willfully misconducted himself when he falsely signed seven payment vouchers as the accounting officer. The charge further alleges that Sutton was not authorised to sign the payment vouchers which enabled Slowe, Conway, Whittaker, Fraser and Gilbert to be paid a total of $1,776,000 each without the approval of Daniella McCalmon, the Accounting Officer and without any reasonable excuse or justification.
According to information, Washington and Sutton collectively signed 15 payment vouchers as the accounting officer, when they had no authority to do so. This resulted in a breach since the only Accounting Officer of the GPF is Daniella McCalmon. The primary duty assigned to Washington and Sutton was to ensure that accountability and transparency existed in all financial transactions at the Police Finance Department. As such, they were legally bounded to ensure that the correct financial procedures were followed when payment vouchers are processed. It is alleged that their conduct shows their intention in conspiring with the others to defraud the GPF.
Principal Magistrate Isaacs-Marcus, placed Sutton on $100,000 bail for that offence and the matter was also adjourned to June 3, 2021.
Over the past few months, several members and former members of the GPG were hauled before the court to answer to fraud related charges. The charges were brought against them by SOCU and a total of 11 officers were charged. It should be noted that Washington is also a defendant of three previous charges.
Others that were previously charged are: Deputy Commander of Division 4 ‘B’, Senior Superintendent Lorraine Saul; former Deputy Finance Officer, Deputy Superintendent Frank Jackman-Wilburg; and former Deputy Finance Officer, Assistant Superintendent Roxanne Griffith-Adams. Other ranks that were charged are: Officer-in-Charge at the Police Finance Department (ag), Assistant Superintendent Kurt Smith; former Assistant Commissioner of Police, Kevin Adonis; Sergeants Jermaine Fraser and Michael Corbin; Corporal Rawle Haynes and constables Jenneka Carmichael and Tatyana Smith.