The damning police audit report on the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) was only delivered to police legal advisor, retired Justice Claudette Singh after President David Granger told reporters that it was with her.
Sources told Stabroek News yesterday that Singh received the report around 1pm on Wednesday. By then, Granger has already informed the media that she was in possession of it.
Granger was asked for an update on the audit on Wednesday morning, shortly after accrediting Ebu Rohno Jones, the new Suriname Ambassador to Guyana.
He told reporters that he had received no update from Commissioner of Police Leslie James or Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan with regards to the fraud findings or the removal of persons.
“No, I have not been given any further information from when last we spoke,” he said, adding that he had correctly said last week Wednesday that SOCU is an organic part of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and, as such, in terms of investigation and in terms of any recommendation out of the investigation, “it will be up to the Commissioner of Police first to initiate action and I am sure I will be advised by the Minister of Public Security.”
He said too that at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, nothing about this matter was reported.
The president also said that the report, when completed by the GPF’s auditors, was sent to James, who then forwarded it to Singh. Based on what Granger said, it suggested that James was awaiting a response.
It was James who initiated the audit in February following claims of grave mismanagement including the spending of the operational fund. That audit, which covered the last three years, was completed several weeks ago and the report, which included damning findings and more than a dozen recommendations including the immediate transfer of the unit’s head Sydney James and his secretary Kevin Haywood, was submitted to the commissioner. The two are still employed at SOCU.
According to information gleaned by Stabroek News, the GPF’s Audit Department, during its investigation, uncovered serious irregularities, including the falsification of records. The auditors found invoices from several business places that were duplicated or tampered with, fraudulent double entries, and false entries.
Aside from the transfers, fraud investigations into several of the irregularities were recommended.
Observers have questioned the inaction of the commissioner and warned that this could further damage SOCU’s credibility.
The unit was established in 2014 by the then PPP government. Sydney James, who at the time was an army intelligence officer, was appointed by then President Donald Ramotar and elevated to the rank of Assistant Commissioner.
Since leaving office in 2015, the PPP has accused the government of interfering in the work of the unit and issuing directives which targeted members of the party. Following this newspaper’s reportage of the contents of the audit, the party called for the resignation of Ramjattan with immediate effect, the immediate shutting down of the unit, and the commencement of a forensic audit conducted by an impartial and professional auditor into the functioning and affairs of SOCU with an intent to prosecute all those “implicated in skullduggery.”
