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Top officials at Home Affairs Ministry knew Brutus’ wife was a supplier to GPF
Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn
Kaieteur News – As the investigations into alleged financial irregularities continue against Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police, Calvin Brutus reports are that the Ministry of Home Affairs was aware that a company connected to the senior officer’s wife was a supplier to the Force.
Kaieteur News learnt that indeed the wife of the officer was a supplier to the Guyana Police Force and this has been ongoing for close to a year with the full knowledge of very senior officials of the ministry. It is unclear what systems were used to facilitate this process but vouchers being processed by the Guyana Police Force for suppliers and contractors for other services supplied, passed through a number of offices within the Guyana Police which all fell under the purview of Brutus before he was transferred.
One such company, whose vouchers and payments were processed, is South Quata Contracting & General Supplies Inc. the company that is owned by Brutus’s wife. The vouchers once processed at the Guyana Police Force, will then be sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs, more specifically, to the Office of the Permanent Secretary.
Kaieteur News was told that sometime last year, two officials at the ministry had met with Brutus to facilitate the process of ensuring that his wife was added to the list of suppliers to the Guyana Police Force. According to reports, key figures within the Ministry of Home Affairs then contacted officials at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board who later issued a document that placed South Quata Contracting & General Supplies Inc. as a legitimate supplier to the Guyana Police Force.
Back in July during an address at a police symposium, Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn called out the Guyana Police Force (GPF) over questionable accounting practices, bribery, and corruption and vowed audits and investigations into the alleged malpractices. “The core issue is at the level of the quality of policing,” the minister stated during his address. “Not quantity in terms of how many police are out there, but the quality of policing.”
A letter from the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board approving Brutus’ wife company as a supplier to the Guyana Police Force
Benn acknowledged the diversity of the GPF’s training, which has included input from the UK, Canada, India, and China. “The question is the quality of our policemen and women,” the minister said.” According to the Home Affairs Minister, the most pressing issue is concerning procurement practices and financial accounting within the GPF. He said despite the government’s efforts to address these problems, they have not received the necessary cooperation or response from the GPF leadership. The minister revealed that he has made numerous requests to the GPF leadership to address these issues, but has been met with delays, undermining, and a “disregard of the things we want you to do.”
“There is a significant problem,” Minister Benn declared, vowing to launch reviews, investigations, and audits into the GPF’s procurement processes and financial practices. He further added, “If money goes to places it should not go, it means that there is massive collusion and corruption. We want new accountable policing; we want new and improved and honest work done. We want to see that the paper trail is not fraudulent because we hear a lot of issues and I know there is a lot of turning back of invoices where you cannot verify what was said to have occurred, occurred. The Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) is currently conducting an investigation into allegations of financial irregularities by several police officers. To date, several persons have been question during the probe. At the same time, Brutus remains off the job after proceeding on leave to facilitate the investigations.
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