The criminal investigation into the purchase of lands at ‘Pradoville 2’ by former president Bharrat Jagedo, members of his cabinet and close affiliates, is nearing completion, according to head of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) Assistant Com-missioner of Police Sydney James, who is urging the public to exercise patience.
“Pradoville is being finalised and hopefully we will send it out for advice next week”, James told Sunday Stabroek in a recent interview.
The investigation attracted widespread attention last month after Jagdeo and others were hauled in for questioning at SOCU headquarters on Camp Street and several beneficiaries of land were arrested.
A special investigation of the Sparendaam Housing Project, referred to as ‘Pradoville 2,’ which was part of a larger probe of the financial operations of the Central Housing and Planning Authority, was conducted by accounting firm Ram & McRae. The investigation revealed that the allocation of the land was a clandestine arrangement that was handled personally by former housing minister Irfaan Ali and it was concluded that a criminal case for misfeasance could be made against the PPP/C Cabinet members who benefited.
Lots were allocated to six Cabinet members—Jagdeo, cabinet secretary Dr Roger Luncheon and ministers Priya Manickchand, Dr Jennifer Westford, Robert Persaud and Clement Rohee—along with other persons with connections to the then government.
The forensic audit, found that awardees grossly underpaid for the lots by a total of nearly $250 million, while the state-owned National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), National Communications Network (NCN) and Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) were never reimbursed for millions spent to execute preparatory works.
Responding to public concerns about the failure to file charges as yet in the case and some others from other audits, James said, “I know we’ll have some significant movement in a short space of time. That’s the most I am willing to say. There are some significant movements with respect to prosecution in a number of forensic audits which have been referred [to].” He had previously said that the public must understand the complex nature of the investigations.
During the interview with this newspaper, he again made reference to this, while noting that his investigators have be to be meticulous.
“We don’t have the benefit of making mistakes. These are really sensitive and specialised investigations. Not like the normal murder or robbery that once you prove the ingredients you can just go and charge within 72 hours. We cannot do that,” he explained.
Aside from Pradoville 2, the audit reports in the possession of SOCU pertain to NICIL, the New Guyana Marketing Corporation (New GMC), Cricket World Cup 2007, the Guyana Rice Development Board, GPL, the Mahaica, Mahaicony, Abary-Agricultural Development Authority, the Guyana Office for Investment, the Hydrometeorological Office, NCN, the Marriott Hotel, the Guyana Energy Agency, GuyOil, the Guyana Gold Board, the National Frequency Management Unit, the One Laptop Per Family project, the E-Governance Project and the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation. The audit reports have resulted in over 100 smaller investigations.
James said that with respect to NICIL, several files were sent for legal advice and they are awaiting advice. The New GMC matter, he said, was divided into two parts. The first, James said, is already before the court, while a file pertaining to the second aspect, has been submitted to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for legal advice.
The other audits, he said, are at various stages of investigation.
Noting that the unit has lots of matters before it, James said that referrals for investigation have come from the Financial Intelligence Unit and other law enforcement agencies.
Back in January, Ireland-based financial investigation expert Dr Sam Sittlington had informed that the unit had over 300 investigations pending. Sittlington, the director of The Fraud Company, was hired to look into the operations of the unit.
In addition to the audits, James said the unit was looking at a number of gold smuggling and money laundering cases. Several matters, he said, are already before the court.
He said that the alleged fraudulent conversion of law reports by former attorney general Anil Nandlall was the latest matter to be investigated by the unit and now that it has been concluded—the case is now before the court—investigators will once again direct their energies towards completing a number of investigations which have been ongoing for some time.
He stressed that within the coming weeks and months, the public can expect “more things” coming out of the unit.
Meanwhile, James said that the unit’s human resource capacity has been boosted tremendously. He said that the unit now has the services of a forensic auditor and a number of policemen have been posted there within the last two months or so.
