Former President Donald Ramotar says that he saw no conflict of interest in Omar Shariff working at the Office of the President as Permanent Secretary (PS) and running a business simultaneously since nothing in his contract with government prohibited it.
“I knew he had a business but I did not know the nature of the business. It seems to me that he was not tied down and not deeply involved in the day to day running of it, as he was always around when needed and performed his duties diligently,” Ramotar said in response to questions from Stabroek News.
“Most times, he worked for long hours. He was there conducting duties pertaining to the Office of the President, sometimes very late and was never distracted. However, I never tried to find out about his business. I don’t see that it had any conflict of interest. If his business was selling phone cards, the Office of the President was not buying any from him and I don’t think there was any business that he had that OP was doing business with…there is no law (against) employing a contract worker who owns a business. Remember, he was a contract employee and not a traditional public servant officer,” the former president added.
Shariff was rehired by Ramotar when he took office in 2011. He had resigned as PS of the Ministry of Health under former President Bharrat Jagdeo.
He was retained last year by the APNU+AFC administration but was sent on leave in late June to facilitate an investigation by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) into his bank accounts.
His attorney, Sanjeev Datadin, had told Stabroek News that the investigation involved a personal business that he operates and had nothing to do with his job at the ministry. Datadin had also raised concerns about media reports suggesting that his client has billions of dollars, saying that not only are they untrue but that they have put his safety at risk.
A source close to Shariff said that the Permanent Secretary believes that he was sent on leave as a smokescreen because he had begun unearthing corruption, including the alleged misuse of international donor funds.
Shariff, according to one source, is also confident that the current investigation of him will reveal that the money that has passed through his accounts over the past 10 years were from a legitimate business transactions.
“His business is legitimate and above board and there is no other issue other than a tax issue which he should be resolving with GRA [Guyana Revenue Authority] in the coming weeks,” the source told Stabroek News.
“…The PS even went as far as complaining to Minister Harmon [Minister of State Joseph Harmon] about a fraud involving a foreign donor fund, which is being covered up for the past few months; from all indications this seems to be only the tip of the iceberg,” the source further stated.
Ramotar informed that the former PPP Central Committee member never disclosed to him that he had tax problems with the GRA.
“He never spoke to me about that. I am not swearing but he did not speak to me about his taxes or personal problems,” the former president noted.
Asked if he had known of Shariff’s businesses, what decisions he would have made as it pertained to the continuation of his employment, Ramotar said that in retrospect, one can give many answers. He pointed out that while he could not concretely say now, he knows he would have investigated further before deciding on the issue. “I can’t say a definitive yes or no. I would have tried to be fair and find out the nature and details of that before I made any decision. Looking back we can always say we would have done this or that if we had known,” he said.
He added that while he prefers that ministers of government and senior public service officers not have “side businesses,” there was no law preventing their employment. “My view is no, I don’t think that public service officers in high positions and our ministers should have businesses but there is no law in employing persons who have. I would prefer that they did not have, but there is no law,” he stated.
As for his take on Shariff’s current issue, the former president said it has been a while since he was sent on leave and nothing has happened. It is either they made a mistake or he is just another victim of discrimination,” he said.
