-three cops arrested
Three police ranks are now in custody after $3.4 million was discovered missing from a locked canister in the Finance Office at the Police Headquarters at Eve Leary yesterday morning.
The canister was secured in a locked cashier cage. Police said the three ranks arrested were responsible for the monies and keys.
Police in a release issued last evening said that “investigations are being conducted into the larceny of $3.4 million from the Police Finance Office, Police Headquarters, Eve Leary, which was discovered at about 0900h today (yesterday)”. According to the release, “there were no signs of any breakage to the Office”. They said three ranks have been arrested and they were in custody assisting with the investigations.
Police spokesman Ivelaw Whittaker told Stabroek News last evening that the missing money had been enveloped and placed in a locked canister in the Finance Office. The money, he said, was discovered missing when a check was made yesterday morning. Subsequently, three ranks were taken into custody to assist with investigations.
Asked if any charges would be laid against any of the ranks shortly, Whittaker said he was not in a position to say since investigations are still ongoing.
Meanwhile, this newspaper learnt from a reliable police source last night that a senior police officer, in addition to the three junior ranks, was also hauled in for questioning.
Cash held at the Finance Office comes mainly from bail collected at the various Police Stations, the source said. The money on hand is used, among other things, to pay travel and meal allowances for senior officers.
Sometime during last November, according to the source, an instruction, reinforcing an earlier order, was received that more than $25,000 worth of bail money could not be kept at a Police Station at any given time.
“I cannot tell you whether this instruction was sent to all the police station(s),” the source said, “but I can tell you that all the stations in Georgetown and central Georgetown received one.”
This instruction would’ve increased the amount of cash normally on hand at the Finance Office, the source said.
The Finance Office larceny, the source explained, “is most definitely not the first time the Guyana Police Force has suffered loss as a result of the wicked work of its own ranks”.
About five years ago, the source said, a Sergeant from a Police ‘C’ Division Police Station had made off with over $2M.
While the matter was never made public an all station bulletin, according to the source, was sent out. The Sergeant subsequently turned in himself along with a lawyer and an arrangement was made for the money to be repaid.
“The particular Sergeant is still in the employ of the force,” the source stated.
It was as a result of this incident that the initial instruction limiting the amount of cash which could be kept at any given station was disseminated.
Further, the source opined that the $3.4M “job” had to be “done on the inside” since the Finance Office is one of the most secure areas in the Eve Leary compound.
The Finance Office is located on the northern side of the compound (Rabbit Walk) and is a stone’s throw from Commissioner Henry Greene’s office.
Several efforts made to contact senior police officials for a comment last night were futile.
This incident is the latest in a series of crimes that have ensnared the police force.
