The up-to-one-year transition period that could allow for Dr Clive Thomas and Aubrey Heath-Retemyer to act as Director and Deputy Director, respectively, at the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA), allows for enough time to carry out political agendas, former attorney general and People’s Progressive Party executive, Anil Nandlall has said. “How can Misters Clive Thomas, Aubrey Retemyer, Eric Phillips, Tacuma Ogunseye, Desmond Trotman and persons of that ilk, ever qualify for positions within this agency, having regard to the fact that they are all political leaders?” Nandlall questioned.
“Now we are being told that the same people, against whom so many objections have been raised, will now function as staff members of SARA for as long as one year. Clearly, the government MPs lied in the National Assembly and now they are using this cloak and dagger, back-door approach to instal these … tainted personnel upon us,” he added.
The PPP has expressed similar sentiments and in a party press release on Saturday, stated that these persons do not qualify as fit and proper. “We say that they are political hacks devoid of any law enforcement and investigative training and qualifications required for the task; they certainly do not qualify as “fit and proper” persons as prescribed by both the SARA Bill and the President’s public pronouncement on the characteristics of a “fit and proper” person,” the PPP statement read.
Despite scathing criticisms from the PPP and objections from a number of civil society bodies about the bill in its current form, the SARA Bill was passed on April 13, 2017 in the National Assembly. That day the PPP had also lamented the fact that its debate of the bill was cut short; although it was explained by Speaker of the House Barton Scotland that it was because of time constraints.
With the bill likely to be assented to within days and operationalized, there will be intensified speculation about who faces the seizure of assets.
The bill is intended to give effect to the non-conviction-based asset recovery recommendations contained in the United Nations Convention Against Corruption 2003, which was ratified by the Government of Guyana in April 2008. “The bill therefore introduces legislation to combat unlawful conduct and corrupt practices in relation to property and other assets owned by the state, or in which the state has an interest,” it stated.
It is divided in seven parts dealing with the establishment of SARA, the establishment of the Recovery of State Assets Fund, civil recovery and preservation of state property obtained through unlawful conduct and orders to assist investigation and international cooperation among others.
Attorney General Basil Williams, in whose name the bill was presented to Parliament, has said that the bill was government’s reaffirmation to stamping out corruption and that there would no “safe haven for corrupt persons”. He said it was government’s vision to build institutions based on justice and integrity.
The PPP has vowed to challenge the bill in the Courts.
The party stated that its members were surprised to read reports informing that government intended to use the current members of the State Assets Recovery Unit (SARU), to act in the place of the Director and Deputy Director and other officers of the agency. This is for a transition period; that can last as long as 12 months.
Minister of State Joseph Harmon told Stabroek News on Sunday that there has not been any party appointment of persons to SARA but that there was a process.
Harmon did not confirm if the two men will act as head and deputy head while the process to find substantive staff was ongoing. He also did not address how long the process will take and if the entire year catered for will be used.
“The Parliament has passed a bill… when that agency comes into being the Parliamentary Committee on Appointments will make appointments to the agency and to the entity. The bill has not yet become an act; and even when it becomes an Act it will require the parliamentary process to be activated to ensure that persons are appointed,” he said.
“So there are no appointments made under the SARA as yet, no appointments. The appointments committee will establish their own processes and the procedure for the way in which things will be advertised and so on. They don’t have to be a government nominee. The appointive committee will set out its requirement and then people will apply accordingly,” he added.
Nandlall and his party believe that the government’s unilateral decision to use SARU’s heads for SARA in the interim, was demonstrative of “contempt for the Guyanese people. The Guyana Human Rights Association, the Private Sector Commission and dozens of commentators and of course the largest opposition party in this country, have publicly stated that it would be highly undesirable if politicians are allowed to staff SARA; having regard to the exceptional … power that the bill confers upon its personnel. Moreover, these officers have made innumerable public statements that illustrates that they have arrived at conclusions in relation to many matters and none of them have been investigated.”
He asserted, “The fact that these persons are politicians, coupled with the public statements which they have made, disqualifies them from being anywhere close to a law enforcement agency which, by law, is required to be autonomous, independent and barring political influence, be staffed with persons trained in the science of investigation and whose decisions must be influenced only by the evidence unearthed through a fair process of investigation and the applicable law relevant to that evidence and investigation.”
Pointing to what he called “innumerable statements” criticizing members of the PPP, Nandall said the current staff at SARU has already shown that they can never be impartial. He said that as the party’s main legal advisor, he will commit to ensuring that the SARA law is challenged and would not stop until it is repealed.
“Nevertheless, we are committed to ensuring that the law will be challenged and we will try to have professional and impartial people, who are free from political influence, administer this law…,” Nandlall stated.
