Police early this morning arrested former Director of Sports Christopher Jones after breaking into his home and seizing a number of boxes believed to contain barbershop equipment purchased as part of a $4 million government funded project under the Sustainable Livelihood and Entrepreneurial Development (SLED).
The arrest of Jones came hours after his lawyer, Darren Wade, secured an order barring the law enforcers from entering Jones’ Georgetown home without a warrant. Vanloads of lawmen had turned up at Jones’ house around 6.30pm last evening and had attempted to enter his yard but Jones questioned if they had a warrant. They had none and remained outside the house after a large crowd had gathered, including members of the APNU+AFC coalition. However, at around 12:30 this morning after some of the persons had left, the police broke a lock and entered his home, arresting him and removing the boxes.
Speaking on an APNU+AFC’s live Facebook programme this morning, attorney Nigel Hughes, who now represents Jones, said the police arrested his client for being in possession of his own property.
He said Jones was being held at the Diamond Police Station but investigating officers indicated that he would be taken to the Brickdam Police Station later in the morning to be questioned.
According to Hughes, Jones had applied for assistance under the SLED programme under the then Ministry of Social Protection and the application was reviewed and approved. A tender was put out for the supply, the ministry contacted Region Four council and the tender was awarded and the items were procured and the equipment was imported in the name of Jones. According to Hughes, the regional official inspected the items when arrived and they were delivered to Jones.
The attorney said on Wednesday last the Region Four audit officials contacted Jones and requested to visit his home where they inspected the items and took photographs of the boxes and also visited the proposed Festival City site where the barber shop is expected to be erected.
Hughes said that the officers who were on the scene trampled on the order obtained by Wade when he presented to him last evening.
The attorney said they are in the process of filing proceedings in the High Court to seek the release of Jones.
Meanwhile, the AFC’s former leader and former government minister Raphael Trotman issued a statement on his party’s page expressing disgust at the manner in which Jones’ arrest was made and blamed the PPP/C for the conduct of the lawmen.
“I am sickened by the obscene actions of the PPP/C regime in going after Chris Jones in the dark of night, terrifying his little children and family, showing no sense of civility or decency. If it is believed that Chris has property that belongs to the state, make a request for it, invite him to respond, if he fails or he refuses, then action can be taken. Don’t cut the electricity, wait until dark and then move “en terrorem”. This is the first of many similar acts to come. Let dignity, fairness and justice prevail!” Trotman said.
Stabroek News reached out to Jones for comment on the matter last evening and he had confirmed that the police were there to search his property and said that in ten minutes he would return a call to this newspaper. However, up to press time he had not done so.
His party, APNU, took to the social media platform Facebook, with live video of the incident, with commentators and viewers making claims of “witch hunting” and “victimization,” saying that the police were acting on the instructions of the PPP/C.
Approval not granted
Documents from the audit – AUDIT OF THE REGIONAL DEMOCRATIC COUNCIL – REGION of Region 4- which covered the 2019 fiscal year, claim that a number of items were said to be stored at Jones’ residence.
“The Regional Administration received an Inter/Intra Departmental Warrant (IDW) № 6/2019 dated 19 June 2019 from the Ministry of Social Protection valuing $4.985M for the procurement of equipment for barber shop under the Line item 19037000001 – Sustainable Livelihood and Entrepreneurial Development (SLED). A Financial Return presented revealed that the full amount was expended as at 31 December 2019. Audit Examination of the relevant records revealed that the warrant was expended via two payment vouchers № 74005201 (Cheque № 07-276306) and № 74005202 (Cheque № 07-276311) to the value of $4.084M and $900,999 payable to Dominion Enterprise and Gafsons Industries respectively,” it said with supporting details in table form. Details of the warrant are shown in the table below:
The Audit report said that in addition, examination of the payment voucher and Regional Procurement and Tender Administration Board’s (RPTAB) Minutes, № 16/2019, revealed the that approval was not granted from RPTAB for the procurement of the Condensing Unit valuing $1.528 million. However, audit checks revealed that the item was still purchased and supplied.
Noted too was that, “PV № 74005202 remained on the list of outstanding cheque orders for 2019. Further, audit checks revealed that the cheque was paid to the supplier on 2 October 2019. However, at the time of reporting in August 2020, items to the value of $900,999 were not supplied.”
The table below provides a summary of the outstanding items:
The document states that a physical inspection of the assets purchased showed that items valuing $4.084 million were still not put into use, since these items were stored in a room at the residence of Jones.
“Details of a letter from the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Social Protection dated 22 May 2019, states that the items were to be procured for the beneficiary who ‘operates’ a barber shop. However, at the time of the physical verification it was discovered that the beneficiary does not operate a barber shop, since construction of the said barber shop has not yet commenced as can be seen in the image below,” the document states.
Those outstanding items are listed in the table below:
