Police yesterday continued questioning Region Four Regional Executive Officer (REO) Shafdar Ali in relation to a multi-million dollar fraud committed on the state.
The REO turned himself over to police Tuesday morning, days after they had issued a wanted bulletin for him. He was escorted to Police Headquarters, Eve Leary by attorney Khemraj Ramjattan.
Ali remained in police custody up to late last night. There has been no indication from police whether the REO will be charged. Several efforts made yesterday to contact various senior police officials for comment were futile.
Meanwhile, Region Four Regional Democratic Council Chairman Clement Corlette was also unavailable to comment. Corlette and Ali have had a bitter feud for the last few years and some of their arguments have revolved around the council’s finances.
In addition to being the REO, a Region Four councillor who requested anonymity had said Ali also held the positions of the Chief Accounting Officer, Chairman of the Tender Board and Clerk of the RDC. The REO should not have held all these positions, the councillor had insisted. “Especially after the Fiscal Management and
Accountability Act was passed Ali should not have been allowed to wear these four caps…this power should have been given to the RDC as a collective body,” the councillor opined. “The government itself is at fault for what has happened here today.”
Just over a year ago, the councillor recalled, a motion to strip Ali of his authority had been presented by an AFC member. However, the PNCR-1G members had abstained from voting so the motion was never acted upon.
The REO, Ramjattan told this newspaper on Tuesday, had insisted that he was innocent. He also told the lawyer that he believed he was being made a scapegoat by the government and that he would make “explosive” disclosures regarding the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development and the Ministry of Finance.
It was Local Government Minister Kellawan Lall, who announced that Ali and the RDC Expediter Bharrat Persaud were sent on leave following the investigation into the alleged financial irregularities by the Auditor General.
The minister has since said that he has received a preliminary report.
