Former Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon was yesterday questioned by Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) investigators about the annual general meetings of government holding company NICIL.
Attorney at law and former Attorney-General Anil Nandlall told Stabroek News last evening that the questioning occurred at SOCU’s Camp Street office and lasted from 9:45 am until about 11 am. Nandlall accompanied Luncheon to the location and was present during the questioning. No indication was given that Luncheon, an executive member of the PPP, needed to be questioned further or had to return at a later date.
Nandlall informed that SOCU agents contacted Luncheon by telephone and invited him to be questioned.
According to Nandlall, he indicated to the investigators that while “we are prepared to cooperate with any investigation being carried out into the operations during our government,” having regard to the nature of the questions which were being asked, the PPP is of the view that “it is a time wasting exercise and that in the future if this course of action continues we will reconsider our position.”
Nandlall declared that his party will not lend support to a process to “supply information in order to correct or confirm vicious findings by audits which have nothing else but a political and vindictive agenda”.
He told Stabroek News that he indicated to the investigators that in the future they should put their request in writing and include the nature of their inquiry. Based on what is written, the party will “determine after reviewing that correspondence, whether as a collective we will continue to lend our cooperation.”
Luncheon is the latest PPP member to be questioned by SOCU. Within the last 12 days, former Prime Minister Samuel Hinds along with PPP/C MPs Gail Teixeira, Irfaan Ali and Nigel Dharamlall were questioned in relation to the findings of the forensic audit into NICIL.
It was Teixeira who made this known to the media during a press conference on Wednesday. Ali, the Minister of Housing and Commerce under the former PPP/C government, was the first to be questioned on January 6. He was followed by Dharamlall, a Permanent Secretary under the former PPP/C government and Teixeira, a former presidential adviser who were called in on Monday, and Hinds on Wednesday.
“We are convinced that the government is using the coercive arms of the State to threaten and intimidate PPP/C Members of Parliament but it is not succeeding and we wish to thank civil society and citizens of Guyana who are being vocal in their concerns of these developments that are taking place with regard to the treatment of Members of the Parliament of the People’s Progressive Party and former members of the government such as former Prime Minister Sam Hinds,” Teixeira said.
In his audit report on NICIL, former Auditor-General Anand Goolsarran urged that criminal and/or disciplinary actions be instituted against all those responsible for the interception of State revenues totalling $26.858 billion in violation of Articles 216 of the Constitution and the related sections of the Fiscal Management and Accountability (FMA) Act. He also urged criminal and/or disciplinary actions against all those responsible for violating Article 217 of the Constitution by causing expenditure to be incurred out of State resources without parliamentary approval.
