Former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran says that the actions by the authorities in response to sanctions by the US Department of the Trea-sury against two gold dealers and a permanent secretary appear to be “cosmetic”.
Goolsarran, in his July 1st accountability column in Stabroek News said: “Following the United States Government’s imposition of sanctions for corrupt behaviour against three prominent individuals and entities associated with two of them, we note the Authorities’ recent actions. However, such actions appear cosmetic and have not gone far enough to address the root causes of such behaviour and to initiate investigations with a view to taking appropriate disciplinary action against all persons involved, including those who may have aided and abetted these individuals to commit these immoral and unethical acts.
“When civil society activists, including anti-corruption and transparency advocates, speak of corruption in government, they are considered anti-government and are maligned, vilified and treated as enemies of the State. This is most unfortunate, considering that if the recommendations of these advocates, who have the interest of the country at heart, had been taken on board, Guyana would not have been in the state it has found itself today in the eyes of its citizens and indeed the world at large”.
On June 11, the United States Treasury Depart-ment imposed sanctions on businessmen Nazar Mohamed and Azruddin Mohamed over the alleged massive smuggling of gold and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour, Mae Toussaint Jr Thomas, was cited for alleged corruption.
Allegations against the Mohameds include defrauding the government here of some US$50 million in taxes from smuggled gold, as well as bribing public officials.
For Toussaint Jr Thomas’s part, it said that she used her office while serving at the Ministry of Home Affairs, to offer benefits to the Mohameds that included contracts, licenc-es for weapons, and passports.
The trio had previously denied wrongdoing but have provided no explanations since the June 11 sanctions. The cambio licence of the Mohameds has been cancelled by the Bank of Guyana and Nazar Mohamed has resigned from his position as a councillor for the PPP/C on the Eccles/Ramsburg Neighbourhood Democra-tic Council.
On June 11 Toussaint Jr Thomas was sent on leave with immediate effect by the government.
On June 26, the Guyana Government said it had been advised by the US that information being sought on sanctions against the Mohameds and Toussaint Jr Thomas would have to be sourced via the Department of Justice.
Minister of Finance Ashni Singh in a statement said that in the matter of the Guyana Government’s request for relevant information concerning the sanctions against “certain Guyanese individuals and entities”, it was told to direct such requests from the office of Guyana’s Attorney General to the US Department of Justice, which will then work with the Office of Foreign Assets Control to gather source documentation on the matter.
Critics have said that PPP/C governments are notorious for shunting aside investigations of serious corruption matters. Among others, they point to the handling of Toussaint Jr Thomas’ questioning last year at the US Port of Miami, the seizure of her phone and the cancellation of her US visa. Instead of a full investigation of what had transpired, the government simply transferred her as Perma-nent Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs to Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labour.
