The Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) is being “kicked about like a political football,” according to financial investigation expert Dr. Sam Sittlington, who says that this can have a negative effect on the staff.
“The comments made can be demoralising for the staff and certainly for Assistant Commissioner [Sydney] James. But you know what, they get on with their job, in a professional manner. I would have liked them to respond to some of the comments made in the press even to allay the fears of the business community,” Sittlington said on Wednesday, while giving a brief of his work with the unit over the previous five weeks.
He would have been responding to recent criticisms of the unit’s operations and a call for its mandate to be made public. Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan has already said that a draft protocol, once discussed with the President and Attorney General, will be made public.
Dr. Sittlington, the director of the Ireland-based The Fraud Company, has been in Guyana to provide expert advice and training to the unit, which he said was doing its best “under difficult circumstances.”
He had satisfied himself that SOCU will be successful but expressed hope that the work being done will be supported from the judiciary in terms of criminal trial and forfeiture.
Dr. Sittlington said that in addition to training sessions with both SOCU and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), he had accompanied officials on early morning operations.
“Where I saw something which needed addressed, I noted at the time and then followed it up with a training event or discussion later. I have had one on one mentoring with investigators and advised on difficulties in investigations,” he informed.
“I am delighted with what I am seeing now in SOCU. There are difficulties and there have been difficulties but I think there is focus now on what can be achieved and direction in how they can achieve what SOCU was set up to do,” he said, before adding that he was also impressed with the strength of relationships SOCU had with other law enforcement agencies and how recent operations have benefited from those relationships.
SOCU was set up in 2014 by the then PPP/C government to deal primarily with investigating suspected cases of money laundering and the financing of terrorism. It came into focus following a bungled surveillance operation on December 30 last year that ended in a horrific crash, which left three dead. Among the fatalities was army intelligence officer Robert Pyle. His wife, who was travelling with him, was also killed along with truck driver Linden Eastman, who was coming from the opposite direction.
Within recent weeks, there has been even more scrutiny and questions following several early morning raids conducted by the unit as well as the seizure of gold jewellery at the airport.
There has been controversy recently over whether SOCU falls under the Guyana Police Force or the Ministry of the Presidency due to the arrangements made for its funding in this year’s national budget.
During the consideration of budget estimates, the opposition expressed concern at the allocation for SOCU being listed under the Ministry of Presidency.
Former Attorney General Anil Nandlall, during a subsequent press conference, said that a law enforcement agency of the state must always remain independent from the political directorate or it “will be used for political purposes.”
He said that the ministry, as the “premier executive arm of the state, has no business constitutionally, legally or democratically with the business of investigation. That is not part of executive functions of government.”
As a result, Nandlall said that the party demands the immediate removal of SOCU from under that office. If it remains under the auspices and command of that office, he said, the party will continue to contend that it is operating under political directions because that is the impression that the general public has.
