A farm owned by former PPP/C public service minister Dr Jennifer Westford was searched for about five hours on Tuesday as part of the work being done by the State Assets Recovery Unit (SARU) but nothing was found, sources say.
This latest development indicates that SARU still has Westford on its radar even as she has already been charged with a vehicle register transfer scam and is the subject of a $600 million police probe which is being examined by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Persons with knowledge of the matter told Stabroek News yesterday that several police officers visited the farm which is located at Moblissa, Linden/ Soesdyke Highway and served a search warrant on Westford’s employees. The warrant was signed by a justice of the peace and was very “broad,” a source told this newspaper.
The warrant was served at around 11 am and the search ended at around 4 pm that day, the source said. The source related that though the ranks searched the vast area, they found nothing that belonged to the State stashed anywhere.
Stabroek News was told that shortly after the warrant was served, the employees contacted Westford. The former minister along with her attorneys Eusi Anderson and Dexter Todd travelled to the location and according to the source, she acted in a professional manner and cooperated fully with the ranks.
According to the information received by this newspaper, SARU has its eyes on at least one other former minister who also owns prime agricultural lands along the highway.
The unit which is headed by Professor Clive Thomas was set up by the APNU+AFC government soon after it took office to recover money and other assets allegedly stolen under the former government. If needs be, there will be a link up of the unit with local and international agencies to recover these stolen state assets.
