Two former Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) employees will today be arraigned at the Georgetown Magistrates Court following charges of fraud by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU).
Former Managing Director Jagnarine Singh and Director Madanlall Ramraj were invited to SOCU’s headquarters yesterday where they were subsequently charged with defrauding the GRDB of over $8M between 2010 and 2012.
SOCU claims that the men failed to enter into a general ledger the amounts they received for the GRDB and instead misappropriated it, former Attorney General Anil Nandlall told Stabroek News.
The duo were represented by attorneys Glen Hanoman for Singh and Mark Conway for Ramraj.
Nandlall said that they men were released on their own recognizance but will today be brought before the court to answer to the charges.
Back in June, several GRDB board members were charged with failing to record entries for funds amounting to over $250 million in total in the agency’s general ledger, from 2011 to 2015. Singh was also charged in that case. The other persons charged were Prema Roopnarine, former Deputy Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Agriculture; Ricky Ramraj, agricultural consultant; Badrie Persaud, business consultant; Dharamkumar Seeraj, the General Secretary of the Rice Producers Association and a PPP/C MP; and Nigel Dharamlall, also a PPP/C MP.
An arrest warrant was issued by the court for Peter Ramcharran who is currently in Canada. Ramcharran is currently fighting to not be sent back to his homeland. He was granted CDN$13,000 bail; a CDN$10, 000 performance bond and CDN$3,000 cash when the matter was last heard in June of this year.
