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SOCU being “kicked about like a political football” – British expert

February 25, 2016 9:00 pm Category: latest news, Local News A+ /A-

British Financial Expert Sam Sittlington has taken a swing at the political Opposition for what he said are attempts to demean the work of the controversial Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), which has been making the headlines most recently.

British Financial Expert Sam Sittlington

British Financial Expert, Sam Sittlington

Sittlington, who has been working along with the Unit for over a month, said it is being “kicked about like a political football” and advised that major investments be made in the Unit so that it could put a damper on activities such as drug trafficking, gold smuggling, fraud, cash couriers, tax evasion and other acquisitive crimes.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Sittlington told reporters that SOCU has been doing its best under difficult circumstances.

“They will be successful and I hope that the prosecutions that they are currently working on will be supported by the Judiciary in terms of criminal trial and forfeiture. The comments made can be demoralising for the staff and certainly for Assistant Commissioner [Leslie] James. But you know what; they get on with their job, in a professional manner,” the expert told Journalists.

He said he would have loved for SOCU to respond to some of the comments made in the press, if even to allay the fears of the business community, ‘that legitimate businesses have nothing to fear’. After all money laundering is about money and the conversion and concealing of money from criminal activity.”

According to Sittlington, his stay in Guyana and attachment to SOCU, have so far allowed him to look at the administrative arm of the Unit and advised on systems to aid its smooth running.

He said that his recommendations are to the point and are not meant to downplay the work or role of SOCU or Government in any way but rather they are his honest opinions following his time here. “They (his recommendations) are designed to be constructive to enhance capabilities of all the agencies involved and are delivered by a friend of Guyana.”

Just recently, former Speaker of the National Assembly Ralph Ramkarran said the original role of the Unit as merely an investigative arm into money laundering activities has expanded vastly under the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Administration, particularly with no prior public announcement, and that these new mandates appear to be stimulating unnecessary fear within the country.

SOCU was established in 2014 on the recommendation of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) and was intended to be a Police unit operating under the authority of the Police Commissioner but with a close relationship with the Financial Intelligence Unity (FIU) established under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act, Chapter 10:11 of the Laws of Guyana.

$40M ready for SOCU

Despite concerns raised by an Irish Financial Investigation expert over the lack of sufficient resources at the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), President David Granger has assured that resources will be disbursed soon to ensure the unit functions as it should.Speaking with reporters on Thursday after making his maiden address to the Police Officers at the Force’s Annual Officers’ Conference, the President said, “SOCU is part of the Police Force and as I mentioned, I have already signed the Appropriation Act so money should be released very shortly.”
President Granger noted that it is left up to the Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan and Commissioner of Police Seelall Persaud to “ensure that the money is spent for the purposes to which it has been budgeted.” $40M has been allocated for SOCU under the Ministry of the Presidency (MOTP). But while President Granger has assured that SOCU will receive the allotted financial resources, he said the question is how soon the administration of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) can get it done.

Irish financial investigation expert, Dr. Sam Sittlington

Irish financial investigation expert, Dr. Sam Sittlington

“The Police Act is very clear, the Commissioner has responsibility,” President Granger told reporters noting that weekly meetings are held with the hierarchy of the Police Force. He expressed satisfaction with the success that has been achieved by the Force thus far during its investigations. “I am very confident that we will see a change; in fact, we have already started to see a change particularly in investigations.
“The speed at which persons who commit offences [are caught], sometimes the next day, sometimes within a few days’ time they are arrested. We can’t stop crimes but we could ensure that criminals are arrested and prosecuted,” President Granger added.
On Wednesday, Dr. Sam Sittlington made public his findings on the operation of SOCU during his five weeks here and noted several deficiencies relative to the Unit. He questioned the autonomy of SOCU and said, “There has been a lot of discussion lately about who should fund the SOCU. The autonomy of the unit needs to be addressed.”
The Irish expert said, “A number of ministries have a say in the functioning of SOCU and this creates confusion and instability.” The expert was quick to state that for SOCU to function effectively it must receive clear ministerial direction and funding from one source.
Last week during the consideration of the current and capital expenditure in the National Assembly, the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) expressed concern over SOCU being placed under the Ministry of the Presidency as an entity to receive funding. $40M was budgeted under the Ministry of the Presidency for SOCU. Minister of State Joseph Harmon in response to the concerns of the opposition said, the situation is a temporary one.
Harmon’s response was deemed unsatisfactory to the opposition’s Chief Whip Gail Teixeira, who said that the Terms of Reference (TOR) of SOCU does not indicate that it should be listed under the Ministry of the Presidency. She said too that SOCU being listed under the Ministry of the Presidency contradicted with the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Legislation.
Dr. Sittlington noted too the limited human resource capacity of SOCU given the number of cases before the Unit. He said SOCU is tremendously understaffed and is in dire need of human resources.
There are currently nine persons working with SOCU, an assistant director, four investigators, a secretary and three Criminal Investigation Department (CID) detectives who have been seconded to work on the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Ltd (NICIL) investigations currently with SOCU to help sift the vast amount of documents from that case. “SOCU currently manages a total of 285 investigations, 59 of those are live investigations, of which immediate action is required and the remaining held until further intelligence becomes available.” “They are also expecting further large NICIL-type investigations to reach their doors in the coming weeks. This workload cannot be sustained within the current staff.” A proposal has since been submitted for consideration on the issue.

Django

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