Retired Assistant Commissioner of Police and Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC) Paul Slowe will be “vigorously” defending the fraud and sexual assault charges levelled against him, which his lawyer says are based on false allegations.
Attorney Selwyn Pieters, who is representing Slowe, yesterday afternoon announced that his client will be pleading not guilty to the charges.
Slowe is currently overseas.
In an invited comment, Pieters told Stabroek News that Slowe is currently making arrangements to return to Guyana “to deal with the charges”.
Slowe is among a number of former and serving members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) who are accused of defrauding the force of more than $10 million after being engaged by the then Police Commissioner Leslie James to review the organisation’s Standing Orders.
According to Pieters, the GPF’s Corporate Communications Unit, in a press release issued on Wednesday, levelled the allegations against Slowe and other former and current senior officers in a bid to tarnish their “good name and reputation”.
He said the allegations of conspiracy to defraud against his client are false.
“Work was done on the standing orders. There was no timeline in which the work was to be completed. The National and Regional Elections held in Guyana on the 2nd March, 2020 caused the process to be suspended. In the lead up to the elections, the location in which meetings were held became unavailable due to use by the Guyana Police Force for elections purposes,” Pieters explained in a statement.
“Further, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 to be a global pandemic. The Election Situation in Guyana which was resolved in August 2020 and the compounding COVID19 pandemic, made meetings to deal with finalization of the Standing Orders not feasible. In addition, Mr. Slowe has other duties in relation to his constitutional position as Chairman of the Police Service Commission and his paid employment which takes him overseas,” he added.
The police had also said that Slowe is accused of three counts of sexual assault allegedly committed on a female rank in 2019.
Like the other charges, Pieters said the sexual assault allegations against Slowe are false. “No touching at any time took place at any meetings Mr. Slowe attended,” Pieters noted.
According to Pieters, Slowe is presumed innocent and he will be denying the charges. “His criminal lawyers will be vigorously defending this matter and look forward to the truth coming out in a court of law,” Pieters added.
As the head of the PSC, Slowe is responsible for the promotion of ranks.
“Because of the inflammatory manner in which the Guyana Police Force Corporate Communications Unit is peddling these false allegations the public’s record must be set straight and also, to protect the character and careers of Mr. Slowe, members of the Police Service Commission and Senior Police Officers, whose image the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) and Corporate Communications Unit seeks to besmirch for collateral purposes having to do with disciplinary matters at the Police Services Commission involving several Senior Superintendents and the promotions of Senior Police Officers that has occupied the Court since January 2021,” Peter further said.
A matter is currently before the court regarding the promotion of police officers who have pending disciplinary matters.
The promotions were put on hold after acting Chief Justice Roxane George granted an order blocking the ascent of several senior members within the force to the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police. A ruling is expected in the matter soon.
Most of the other accused — being retired Assistant Commissioner of Police Clinton Conway, retired Assistant Commissioner Claude Whittaker, retired Senior Superintendent George Fraser and retired Senior Superintendent Michael Sutton, retired Superintendent Mark Gilbert, Assistant Commissioner Royston Andries-Junor, and Assistant Superintendent Marlon Kellman — were charged on Thursday.
Stabroek News was reliably informed that the former and serving ranks have explained that they were members of a committee set up to revise the Standing Orders of the GPF.
The alleged fraud was unearthed during an investigation conducted by the SOCU.
In a statement, the police said that former Commissioner of Police Leslie James solely hired Slowe, Conway, Whittaker, Gilbert and Fraser to conduct a complete revision of the Standing Orders in March 2019.
The police said James did not prepare a budget for the service that was offered or make contractual agreements with specifications of what was to be revised and the terms of payments. It was further stated that he did not receive approval from the Permanent Secretary of the then Ministry of Public Security or the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board.
The amount of money involved would require public tendering but police have alleged that the accused were paid in portions to bypass this requirement.
According to the statement, payment accounts were prepared individually from March, 2019 upon instructions from the Head of the Strategic Planning Unit (SPU), Assistant Commissioner Andries-Junor and upon his transfer from the Unit in November 2019, he instructed the new Head of SPU to ensure she continue making out payment accounts for the said officers.
Those accounts were made out as instructed until February, 2020.
An examination of over 60 payment vouchers showed that Washington and Sutton, signed 15 Payment Vouchers collectively as the Accounting Officer, while not having the authority to do such, police added.
Conway previously told this newspaper that there was no agreement on money when he and the other former ranks commenced the work at the force’s Strategic Management Office. However, during the process, he explained that an Assistant Commissioner of Police, who was at the time in charge of the unit, told them that James and his management team made a decision that those conducting the revision should be paid a “stipend”.
“…We continued the work… $3,000 per an hour. They at the Strategic Management Unit monitored our activities….We worked and then when the date for national and regional elections was announced, the management team said that we cannot use the office anymore because they were preparing it for elections,” Conway related.
He added that after elections, the country experienced a COVID-19 outbreak. “We were not recalled to do any other work. All the work that we did we saved and we put them on the computers that is at the Strategic Management Unit. We had no deadline when to complete all the Standing Orders. We did not negotiate for any payment,” Conway stated.
