The Alliance for Change (AFC) is to write President Donald Ramotar on its planned motion of no-confidence against his government and will today be filing a complaint with the police over Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh’s alleged “illegal” spending of $4.5 billion.
The complaint, which could not be filed as expected yesterday since more material had to be gathered, is expected to be lodged with the police sometime before lunch.
This move comes after it was found that the government had already spent more than $4.5 billion of the $37.4 billion cut from this year’s $220 billion national budget. Singh on June 19, tabled Financial Paper 1 of 2014 seeking the approval of the House for the extra-budgetary spending. However, this quickly attracted the ire of the main opposition APNU as well as the AFC who have labelled it illegal.
The party also revealed yesterday that the president will soon receive a letter informing him of the intention to lay a motion of no-confidence in the National Assembly resulting from the said “illegal” spending.
At the AFC weekly press conference, MP Cathy Hughes told reporters that based on Article 218 which deals with the misuse of public money, the party will be seeking charges against the finance minister. “We have been very, very busy over the last couple of days…” she said, adding that it is a very detailed legal document that has to be submitted to the police.
She said this is a legal case that has to be made with the Director of Public Prosecutions and the police. She added that the police have expressed to AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan that they have no information on how they would deal with such a case.
As a result of this, she said, he has had to outline in clear terms all the constitutional provisions that allow the party to take such an action. She said that when she spoke to Ramjattan earlier he was heading to Parliament to obtain copies of the various acts that are required to support the case. “So literally we are not only laying the criminal charges but we are also going to be laying the case so that the DPP and the police understand the mechanisms that are at their disposal to investigate. So that is part of the challenge”, she said.
The Guyana Police Force in response to an article in the Kaieteur News on the issue yesterday said that Ramjattan never engaged the acting Commissioner of Police or the Head, CID (Crime Chief).
“Cognizant of an article published in the Kaieteur News today Thursday July 17, 2014, under the caption “Police were unaware Finance Minister could be charged”, the Guyana Police Force states that at no time has the Alliance for Change (AFC) Leader, Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan, engaged either the acting Commissioner of Police or the Head, CID (Crime Chief) on the issue”, the release said adding that the claim that the police were unaware of the fact that charges could be brought in the matter is a “very misleading assumption”.
The release went on to say that anyone who says that ranks of the Police Force have not been trained to deal with “white collar” crimes does not understand the Force, and the number of such cases before the courts can bear this out.
When told of the police release, Hughes said “I am not surprise by that response”. She said that there are several officials besides the Crime Chief and acting police commissioner within the force who Ramjattan could have approached. “He did speak with representatives of the police force”, she stressed.
Meanwhile, asked for an update on the impending no-confidence motion, party treasurer Dominic Gaskin stated that the leader indicated two weeks ago that the party was considering the use of a no-confidence motion to “legitimately force” the resignation of the government. He said that this was “something indeed” that we had considered and “it is not something that we have taken lightly. It is a very serious matter”.
He said that the only reason the party is considering such a move is because of the serious nature of what has occurred, adding that he is not sure whether the public fully appreciates the extent of the atrocity that was committed when the finance minister “took it upon himself to spend public monies without parliamentary authorization”. He continued that this not only breaches the laws of Guyana and the constitution but it must be considered “totally unacceptable, criminal and probably just as reprehensible as the rigging of elections that took place 20 to 30 years ago”. Gaskin stated that the government is effectively saying that it does not matter how the public voted back in the last elections.
According to him, given the unauthorized spending, the party sees no other option but to initiate a vote of no-confidence. He expressed hope that in this regard they will have the support of APNU.
