An Assistant Superintendent of Police who has been interdicted and is under investigation over corruption at the Police Finance Office has been charged by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) with six counts of misconduct in public office.
These charges all relate to the signing of contracts which were to be signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs for the repair of several police buildings.
The officer charged by SOCU is Assistant Superintendent of Police Kurt Smith, who was the Officer-in-Charge of the Finance Department of the Guyana Police Force. He appeared yesterday at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court 6 before Magistrate Delon Bess where he was not required to plead to six indictable charges and was placed on $100,000 bail for each. Smith was previously charged with similar cases of alleged misconduct by SOCU.
The matters for which Smith was charged were officially reported to SOCU by the Guyana Police Force and an investigation was conducted. The investigations discovered that during the months of December 2021 to February 2022 there were six contracts awarded to various contractors to do repair works on several Police buildings amounting to the sum of $ 9,717,525. The release said that contracts were prepared and sent to the accused for verification and for onward transmission to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs for her signature. However, the accused took it upon himself to sign for the PS in the slot allotted for the accounting officer. The PS Home Affairs was contacted and she stated she never delegated her responsibility to the Finance Officer of the Guyana Police Force.
Further investigations were done and it was advised that the accused be charged with misconduct in public office contrary to common law.
