Nigel Adams was yesterday slapped with more embezzlement charges, stemming from a fraud at the Accountant General’s Department of the Finance Ministry.
He and another suspect, Gary Emanuel Dundas, were charged with embezzling $4M from the state and were admitted to bail in the sum of $800,000 each by acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
The allegation against Dundas and Adams is that between November 20, 2010 and January 14, 2011, at the Accountant General Department, Ministry of Finance, they conspired with person or persons unknown to embezzle $1.6M and $2.4M, which was the property of the State of Guyana.
The jointly-charged duo was not required to plead to the indictable charges of conspiracy to commit a felony when they were read to them.
The prosecution indicated to the court that the facts were as charged after which no further details of what transpired were given.
The men were admitted to bail in the sum of $400,000 on each charge.
The matters were transferred to Court Five for August 8, for report on the application of the Administration of Justice Act (AJA) as well as fixtures for trial.
On June 22, Adams was admitted to bail in the sum of $1.2M after being accused of obtaining $12.8M, belonging to the State of Guyana through false pretence.
The allegation against Adams is that between December 9, 2009 and January 14, 2011, at Georgetown, he conspired with person or persons unknown to commit a felony, to wit obtaining money by false pretence.
The particulars of the three indictable charges stated that Adams obtained the sums of $2.7M, $6.2M and $3.9M by virtue of a Bank of Guyana cheque from the Accountant General’s Department, Ministry of Finance.
Adams, a driver of 21 Ogle, East Coast Demerara was also charged with two counts of threatening language in which he is accused of threatening to kill a witness for the prosecution.
He was placed on $50,000 bail for each of the threatening language charges.
Dundas and Adams are among persons who were being sought by police in relation to the fraud.
In early March, Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh had invited the Office of the Auditor General and the police to investigate suspected unauthorised and irregular transactions within the Accountant General’s Department. The investigations, which were being spearheaded by the Audit Office and the police, are focused on improprieties committed over a period of time within the agency involving sums of monies left unclaimed by government pensioners.
The total figure at the centre of the probe is unclear but has amounted to millions a source within the Audit Office noted recently.
The fraudulent transactions were detected following internal checks by senior supervisory staff from the Finance Ministry, who, according to Singh, conducted “relevant intelligence gathering activities.”
