The donor community should be paying more interest in the work of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), according to PPP/C General Secretary Clement Rohee who yesterday said that there is continued misunderstanding of the unit’s role.
“There seems to be some confusion in the security sector about what really is SOCU’s role,” Rohee said during the party’s weekly press conference. “Therefore, the donor community given the fact that they had a lot to do with technical assistance and otherwise… should probably take a greater interest in what is happening now in respect to SOCU and the Financial Intelligence Unit.”
Ever since it was revealed that army intelligence officer Robert Pyle was on a SOCU operation when the high speed chase he was involved in ended in his death and the deaths of two civilians, questions have been raised about the operation of the unit. To date the public is unaware of its mandate and the rules governing its operation.
Rohee spoke on the issue in response to comments made by Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan during the budget debate last week. Ramjattan had informed that the six pages which make up the protocols for the unit have been “drafted’ and will be made public.
Ramjattan explained to the house that the unit which was created by Rohee in 2013, when he was minister of home affairs, never had operational protocols but steps have now been taken to bring its operations in line with the standard operating procedures of the Guyana Police Force.
Rohee told reporters in attendance at the press conference held at Freedom House that Ramjattan conveyed the impression that the then PPP/C government did not formulate the operational protocols that “they [the government] came and they formulated this thing.”
He said he wanted to make it clear that SOCU had not been set up as an investigative body. “Every time we discussing SOCU we have to discuss SOCU in the context of the Financial Intelligence Unit. There is an inextricable link between the FIU and SOCU. So the Financial Intelligence Unit informs SOCU of what its findings are and SOCU acts in accordance with the relationship between themselves, the FIU and the Director of Public Prosecu-tions (DPP),” he said.
“I want to make it clear that SOCU is not an extension of the Guyana Police Force. SOCU is not an arm of the CID; it is not. Sometimes people tend to get this thing mixed up that SOCU is part of the Guyana Police Force. Even though some members may have been given police ranking in SOCU it doesn’t necessarily follow that they are an adjoin of the CID.”
Observers are questioning how this could be when SOCU’s head Sydney James reports directly to Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud as opposed to government or the FIU. Several weeks ago, a release from James on an operation that unearthed millions of dollars, suspected to be laundered money, was disseminated through the police’s public relations office.
The SOCU headquarters is also located within the police’s Eve Leary zone on Camp Road next door to the Central Immigration and Passport Office.
Also, back in 2014 at a signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between government and the United Kingdom for the training and mentoring of SOCU staff, Persaud was present.
Rohee told reporters that the absence of a head of FIU maybe be one of the reasons “why there seems to be some disconnect between what the FIU relationship should be with the SOCU.”
Shortly after James was sworn into office he said that the unit will function under the guidance of intelligence provided by the FIU.
James who served the army for 34 years in an intelligence capacity was given the rank Assistant Commissioner of Police when he took up the helm of the unit. This gives credence to the public’s belief that there is some police oversight. Also, the investigators have police background.
When Stabroek News had asked James to address the process by which SOCU would investigate suspicious transactions, he said the unit would not be targeting any individuals without intelligence provided by the FIU.
Former head of the presidential secretarial Dr Roger Luncheon had said that the unit will deal primarily with investigating suspected cases of money laundering and financing of terrorism.
He had stated that the unit would work alongside the FIU to compile information. The unit was then to act as an intermediary between the FIU and the Director of Public Prose-cutions. Further, he had revealed that the SOCU would comprise skilled investigators trained by an external investigator.
Former attorney general Anil Nandlall who was instrumental in the setting up of the unit had said that the SOCU’s investigators would come from law enforcement.
Nandlall said too that the make-up of the unit should also include accountants, lawyers and other technical personnel all of whom would be sworn in as police officers to confer them with police powers in law, in order to carry out investigations into allegations and suspicions of money-laundering and terrorism.
Following the death of Pyle, Nandlall had questioned the operations of the unit.
He went as far as to say that the high speed chase has confirmed his worst fears that “SOCU is operating with an unknown, vastly different and perhaps sinister remit.”
Multiple sources within the security sphere have described the unit as police oriented. The fact that it has already conducted operations along the East Coast and East Bank during which persons were arrested point to its powers being beyond just investigating and reporting to the FIU, sources said. It is not clear whether the unit can receive assistance from the regular complement of police or the army in conducting these intelligence-based operations. The death of Pyle is a clear indication that serving members of the army do lend assistance, the sources said, what is not clear is whether this arrangement is legitimate.
