A former Guyana Defence Force (GDF) typist clerk and customs broker’s secretary was yesterday sentenced to 36 months in prison after being found guilty of obtaining in excess of $2M as gratuity payment from the Ministry of Finance.
Colleen Easton, of Lot 21 Ogle Front, East Coast Demerara, who will be celebrating her 60th birthday tomorrow, was momentarily left with her mouth agape when the sentence was announced by city magistrate Judy Latchman.
Slowly reclining into a seat which was provided, Easton, between sobs, leaned over to her attorney George Thomas in disbelief, asking what was going to happen and whether there was anything he could do.
“Wah gon happen? Wah yuh could do?” she cried, while wiping the tears trickling down her cheeks with her kerchief.
Thomas had earlier begged the court to consider his client’s age and the fact that she had fully cooperated
with the police throughout their investigation. He maintained that the woman was innocent of the charge levelled against her
In handing down the sentence, Magistrate Latchman explained that the court considered all the mitigating factors along with the fact that Easton participated in a serious breach at the Finance Ministry and the quantum of money involved.
The charge against Easton stated that on December 22, 2010, at Georgetown, she conspired with a person or persons unknown to commit a felony in obtaining $2,892,000 by false pretence by virtue of Bank of Guyana cheque #04062408 from the Accountant General’s Department of the Ministry of Finance, which was property of the State.
Easton had denied the charge of conspiracy to commit a felony when it was first read to her by Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton on July 21, 2011. She was admitted to bail in the sum of $125,000 and a trial into her matter subsequently commenced.
The facts of the case are that on December 22, 2010, Easton went to the Finance Ministry and collected a cheque for gratuity which she had already been paid and later cashed it at the Bank of Guyana.
Prosecutor Vishnu Hunt had told the court that the woman is the mother-in-law of one Nigel Adams, who had taken her to the Finance Ministry and caused her to uplift the cheque in her name.
Hunt had explained that after cashing the cheque, Easton handed the money over to Adams who in return give her $5,000 from the sum.
The matter was later investigated, a police report was made, and Easton was arrested and charged. Adams was recently given a two-year sentence after being found guilty on a similar charge arising from the scheme.
In 2011, 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 Account-ant General’s De-partment of the Finance Ministry.
Investigations conducted by both the Audit Office and the police looked at improprieties committed over a period of time within the Accountant General’s Department involving sums of monies left unclaimed by government pensioners.
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.”
In a letter addressed to the Auditor General, Singh informed Auditor General, Deodat Sharma of the irregularities in the Accountant General’s Department.
He stated that initial reviews found that payments of superannuation benefits to officials were irregular and “designed to avoid standard financial and accounting procedures.”
