Almost two months later…PS caught in sting operation taking bribe still to be charged

Dec 05, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – December 7 will be two months since Sharon Hicks, a Permanent Secretary (PS) attached to the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs was caught in a police sting operation taking a bribe from a security services contractor, and she is yet to be officially charged for her unlawful action.

The PS that was caught red-handed collecting bribe, Sharon Hicks.

Kaieteur News has been seeking updates on the matter and on November 15 last was told that the case has been sent back to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for a third time.
That was more than three weeks ago. Yesterday, this newspaper reached out to one of the relevant authorities handling the case for an update on the matter and it was revealed that the file is still with the office of the DPP.
The PS was caught on October 7, 2021 after the contractor became fed-up of her allegedly demanding a $200,000 kick-back just to sign off some invoices.
He had reportedly notified police of her demands and a sting operation was set up. The man agreed to pay Hicks the cash and on the day the money was being handed over, he called in the police and ranks were reportedly able to catch her red handed.
She was immediately sent on leave to facilitate an investigation.
Kaieteur News had learnt that the PS had allegedly struck up a deal with the contractor’s father, who was the former owner of the security services company. The deal was that in order for her to secure him a contract with the ministry he had to give her a $200,000 kick-back.
Unfortunately, he died and his son took over the company and did not know about the deal his father had made with the PS. When she started to demand money he was not in agreement and decided to take legal action.
As it relates to the investigation, the case file has been back and forth from the DPP to investigators. It took three weeks after the PS was caught for the DPP’s office to return the file to police for correction.
Investigators did their job and on November 7 Kaieteur News was told that that file was sent back to the DPP for a second time.
In a later update, it was revealed that the file was sent back to investigators again for more correction. The police force did as it was told and on November 15, it was revealed that the file was sent back to the DPP for a third time but since then, the PS is yet to appear before the courts.

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