President David Granger last Friday assured that once evidence has been accumulated against persons fingered in forensic audits as having engaged in corrupt practices, action will be taken.
“I can’t say when government will take action. This is a work in progress. The important thing and the most important factor is that we want to prevent the reoccurrence of any improprieties,” he said on the Ministry of the Presidency’s programme, “The Public Interest.”
The President stated that the audits were meant to highlight what exactly happened. “It is sometimes not every easy to prosecute people.
When you examine cases, you might discover that it was due to ignorance or neglect…but we have to be very careful. Not every time something goes wrong it is as a result of some corrupt practice,” he said.
According to the President, while the investigations are being done, “we have to run the government so we can’t stop to try to find out everybody who has made an error and run to court…we would be in court all day.”
Granger said work is being done behind the scenes and “rest assured that persons against whom evidence has been accumulated that there was corruption or graft, we will go to the court. We have no interest in protecting people. We have no sacred cows. If persons have committed crimes they will be taken before the court.”
Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan had recently hinted in relation to the findings of the audits that the police may not be called in and said the Boards of the entities involved need to take charge.
He had told Stabroek News that it is not the government’s desire to “flood the police with reports which may just need the intervention of the Board.” He pointed out that some of the reports have already been handed over to the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU).
Dozens of forensic audits have been conducted during the last year with a price tag that exceeds $133 million. There have been calls for the government to act on recommendations made in some of the reports to lay charges against some of those involved.
