Minister of State Joseph Harmon says there is no division within Cabinet on the Specialised Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) remaining under the ambit of the Guyana Police Force (GPF).
He made the statement at this week’s post-Cabinet briefing on Thursday, while noting that when the issue was considered at Cabinet it was clear “that SOCU is a unit of the Guyana Police Force and it’s under the superintendence of the Guyana Police Force.”
His statement came following recent comments made by both Attorney General Basil Williams and Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan relating to the widened scope of the unit under the police standing orders. Although it was envisaged that the unit would be focused on financial crimes, an amendment of the police standing orders also vests it with responsibility to investigate crimes such as murders, piracy and smuggling.
Williams, at a recent press conference, had said that since SOCU was set up under the Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) legislation, it is important that it performs its core functions related to the legislation “and that it is not burdened with other police work,” which would stymie the operations of the organisation and retard progress under the AML/CFT regime.
As a result, he indicated that it may be separated from the GPF, although he noted that there had been no discussion at Cabinet as yet.
Ramjattan subsequently defended his decision to widen the scope of SOCU to investigate offences outside of financial crimes but signalled that he was open to scaling back its remit if there is overwhelming consensus. However, he maintained that the unit should remain under supervision of the GPF, which he said would allow for needed scrutiny.
“What Minister Williams did say is that they will have to have a wider role insofar as the anti-money laundering legislation is concerned but he never said that they must be under him [Williams] for his superintendence. It will always be, it remains a unit of the Guyana Police Force,” Harmon said on Thursday.
