Minister of State Joseph Harmon yesterday said that the State Assets Recovery Unit (SARU) had already yielded results.
He made the disclosure during his post-cabinet press conference held at the Ministry of the Presidency.
Without revealing any details, the minister stated that “the unit, they’ve actually started recovering some assets that belong to the state that were held by some individuals. The important thing is that we recover these assets. We are going to go after those person who have them, but I am advised that it is better that we take certain steps before you publicize the names and the companies that are involved.”
The minister continued that alarmingly while trying to serve a specific company over the GuyOil fraud the police had discovered that the company had moved.
“A company that has been written to about the actual collecting of fuel by vehicles that were not belonging to the state …in fact there is one company that we attempted to serve documentation on only to discover that the company had shut up shop. By the time we got to the registered office of the company they had moved to some other location,” he stated.
The minister was responding to a question that though the government had made a plethora of promises as it relates to holding persons accountable for white collar crimes there has been no arrest made in relation to the alleged GuyOil fraud or the attempted transfer of eight state vehicles.
Harmon stated that the unit was “more fortified” now and that inter-agency cooperation has seen a significant increase since the general elections. He said that recovering assets was one component but strengthening inter-agency cooperation and systems was also important.
In June, Harmon had revealed that the unit was broadly outlined by cabinet and that much work needed to be done including identifying the mandate and hiring of persons capable of the task.
Since then it was decided that Presidential Advisor, Professor Clive Thomas would be mandated to spearhead the work of the unit and at an appropriate time he would be making a statement as to the working of the unit.
Harmon was then tasked with answering how the government has proceeded with the hiring and firing of persons throughout the various government ministries and the public sector.
He said “hiring and firing the advisors that have been appointed by his Excellency the President you’ve been informed about that. At the lower levels we have actually had to replace some personnel who were personal to the previous administration, personal to the previous president.
The president and his ministers when they come in to office they have to be satisfied that those persons who work with them are on the same page and so there would have been created a natural movement.”
The minister insisted that the government did not have “anything to hide,” and that “the process is not complete and as soon as it is competed you will get the full figure of what are the positions in the public service. We are going to make those figures known.”
He noted that many areas of the public sector were overstaffed including the Office of the President which has since been renamed the Ministry of the Presidency.
