The Week-in-Review - January 18th to January 25th
In the courts
Sisters Village man found guilty in 2017 murder of boy, 13: Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall last week at the High Court in Berbice, found Hillary Edwards, of Sisters Village, East Bank Berbice, guilty of the murder of Leonard Archibald. A probation report was ordered and Edwards will return to court on February 11 for sentencing. Edwards, 32, of Sisters Village, East Bank Berbice, was charged in September, 2017, for the murder of 13year-old Archibald. On September 17, Archibald of Lot 11 Brothers Village, East Bank Berbice, disappeared after he left home to pick up two of his sisters from a birthday party in a nearby village. He was last seen riding a bicycle on the Sisters Village Public Road. After a police report was filed, investigators placed two men from Sisters Village in custody: the prime suspect, Edwards, and his friend, Christopher, at whose house Edwards would usually hang out, and which is located four houses away from the Sisters Police Station.
State sues Courtney Benn Contracting, CARICOM Insurance over St Rose’s project: Attorney General Anil Nandlall SC last week sued Courtney Benn Contracting Services Limited (CBCSL) for more than $400 million against for what he says is its failure to complete construction work on another secondary school— the St. Rose’s High. Nandlall’s first suit was against BK and the NAFICO Insurance Company. His latest action, however, is against CBCSL and the CARICOM General Insurance Company. In this latest challenge, the AG is seeking from the defendants jointly and severally damages in excess of $100 million dollars for alleged breach of contract on the part of CBCSL for the reconstruction of the St. Rose’s High School. He is also suing for the sum $41,230,435 as liquidated damages from CBCSL which he says has to be calculated at 10% pursuant to provisions of the contract dated 18th August, 2018 and its addendum dated the 23rd December, 2019. In addition, the AG is suing for 105,812,929 which according to him is owed by CBCSL under the performance bond issued by CARICOM Insurance. Aggravated damages to the tune of $100,000,000 for the construction company’s alleged breach of the contract is also being sought by Nandlall in addition to an order for restitution from CBCSL which he pegs at $67,337,538. This sum he says constitutes an advance payment made by the government to CBCSL for which no works were done.
State sues BK, NAFICO over Yarrowkabra school
project: Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall SC has filed a more than $700 million lawsuit against NAFICO and building contractor, BK International which he says has failed to complete construction of the Yarrowkabra Secondary School. In his statement of claim, the AG is seeking from defendants BK and the North American Fire and General Insurance Company (NAFICO) jointly and severally general damages in excess of $100 million dollars for alleged breach of contract on the part of BK International. Nandlall said that pursuant to a contract dated December 31st, 2019 the construction company was contracted to build the Yarrowkabra Secondary School located on the LindenSoesdyke Highway but failed to complete the job according to its contract. In addition to the $100 million being sought for breach of contract, the AG is also seeking liquidated damages from BK in the sum of $82,675,774 and to also recoup a matching sum which he says the contractor owes under a performance bond issued by the insurance company for the construction of the school. Additionally, the AG is seeking from BK the sum of $165,351,547 which he says it owes on an advance payment guarantee issued by the insurance company for the school’s construction. An order of restitution is also being sought by Nandlall against BK which he said was paid $137,184,782 for works not done.
CJ throws out one election petition, sets timeline
for other: One of the two petitions filed by the main opposition APNU+AFC challenging the results of the March 2nd 2020 polls has been dismissed because its presidential candidate David Granger was not served on time but the other one will proceed and timelines were last Monday set for it. Following a ruling in just over two hours last Monday, Acting Chief Justice Roxane GeorgeWiltshire SC has also ordered that documents in possession of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) from the March 2nd, 2020 elections not be destroyed before the remaining petition is fully heard and determined. Specifically, the Chief Justice has ordered that all Statements of Poll (SOPs) and Statements of Recount (SORs) be physically lodged with the Registrar of the Supreme Court for “safe keeping.” Finding that former President Granger was a necessary party to both petitions, Chief Justice George-Wiltshire threw out the second petition lodged on behalf of the coalition because service was not effected on him within the statutory period. The judge said that having found the first petition to have been served on Granger within the stipulated timeframe, that petition would be preserved and therefore heard. Regarding the first petition, attorney Roysdale Forde who represents those petitioners has until February 12th to file and serve his submissions, and the respondents then have until March 5th to respond.
Boyfriend sentenced to 16 years for murder of Canje girl: Ryan Singh, the man accused of killing his teenage girlfriend by slitting her throat in July, 2017, was earlier this month sentenced to 16 years in prison. Justice Simone Morris Ramlall sentenced Singh after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter at the High Court in Berbice.Singh was represented by Attorney at Law, Mursaline Bacchus, while the state was represented by Attorney at Law, Tuanna Hardy. In August, 2017, Singh, formerly of Eccles, East Bank Demerara, was charged with murdering Parbattie Lakhpal, 16, of Lot 369 Number Two Village, East Canje, Berbice. Lakhpal, also known as ‘Rosanna,’ was discovered with her throat slit in the living room of her apartment around 1 pm on July 29. Singh, with whom she had shared a live-in relationship for more than a year, allegedly slit the teen’s throat during a fight after which he had fled the scene. Some eleven days after the murder, Singh was held in Nickerie, Suriname and was then subsequently handed over to authorities in Guyana. He was then charged and remanded to prison.
Politics
LJP says has lost confidence in its candidate for Region Eight council: The Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) has said it has lost confidence in its candidate for the Region Eight council, Jimmy James and is seeking to replace him and it also accused the GECOM Secretariat of frustrating the proposed change. The statement party leader Lenox Shuman came two days after James told Stabroek News that LJP officials were lying about his health. James said that he was fit and prepared to take up his seat on the Potaro-Siparuni council where he would have been able to cast the deciding vote on who would be the Chair. James’ intention to cast his vote in favour of the APNU+AFC coalition because it garnered the most votes in the region seems to have resulted in the LJP trying to have him replaced. The LJP has embarked on a close working relationship with the PPP/C government and the replacement of James seems intended for Shuman’s party to support the ruling party for the chairmanship. Last year, PPP/C members of parliament voted for Shuman to become the Deputy Speaker of the House even though his party will control only one seat for around 30 months.
Saying that he wished to clear up “misunderstandings” surrounding the Region 8 Regional Democratic Council (RDC), Shuman yesterday said that in September of 2020, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) requested that the LJP “resubmit” its candidates for Region 8 to sit on the RDC. It is unclear why this request was made. Contained on that list were James as the primary candidate and Claris Francisco as alternate, both LJP candidates on the Regional List of Candidates, District 8. Shuman said that shortly thereafter, Paramakatoi, where James is from, was hit by the Coronavirus taking the life of one of its loyal and ardent supporters and infecting a large section of the population including James. Shuman said that it was communicated to the LJP that the Regional Democratic Council would be convened and that the party’s candidate needed to be ready at which point James was indisposed as he was still stricken by COVID. James was however present in the city for another convening of the council only for the Regional Executive Officer Mitzi Campbell to say that the ceremony could not be held because two persons were unwell. Shuman said that cognizant of the effects on the healthiest of individuals, the LJP submitted a change of candidate request to GECOM replacing James with Francisco.
Governance
AFC stands by Patterson in gifts scandal: The Alliance for Change (AFC) last week stood by its embattled former Minister, David Patterson who is embroiled in a scandal over gift giving to him and his colleague minister by government agencies which were under their purview between 2015 and 2020. With millions of dollars gifted to him and his one-time junior minister, Annette Ferguson, Patterson has faced growing calls to resign from his position as Chair of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) The AFC stood by him and said that he was owed an apology. “The Alliance for Change has been monitoring news reports and statements emanating from the PPP’s Juan Edghill making serious and damaging negative allegations against the AFC’s General Secretary, David Patterson. The AFC wishes to state categorically that it has full confidence in the integrity of Mr. Patterson and holds him as a person of great fortitude of character, who performed his duties as Minister of Public Infrastructure in the APNU+AFC Administration with the highest standards of public probity”, the AFC said of its senior executive. The party said that the Permanent Secretary in every ministry is responsible for its financial management, not Ministers. This is so in governmental arrangements in countries like Guyana. Critics have however said it was inappropriate for Patterson and Ferguson to accept jewellery and other gifts paid for with taxpayers’ money. The AFC also raised the issue of a policy on gifting. “The larger issue here might be that a complete re-examination of gifting with a view to establishing clearer policy guidelines on the issue of Ministerial gifts from Ministries, Agencies and Departments is needed to be done by the government.
Patterson admits receiving gifts from gov’t agencies: After days of silence, former Minister of Public Infrastructure (MoPI) David Patterson last week acknowledged that he had received gifts from government agencies under his purview but he rejected any accusation of wrongdoing and said he assumed the purchases were in compliance with procurement guidelines. What exactly Patterson received was still not clear yesterday but Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill totted up the value at $2.6m and called on his predecessor to do the honourable thing and resign as Chairman of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee. Patterson defended his actions by saying that the practice of giving memorabilia and gifts to ministers is not new as office holders from both sides of the political divide have been presented with such gifts. However, his defence did not impress Edghill, who said that Patterson was trying to obfuscate his wrongs by making the issue a political one. “Mr. Patterson said that the practice of giving memorabilia and other gifts to Ministers is not new, and Ministers from both sides of the political divide have been presented with gifts and other memorabilia on numerous special occasions,” said a statement from former APNU+AFC Public Relations Officer Imran Khan. The statement quoted Patterson as saying that he did not request any agency to gift him any item. “In my case, at no time did
I ever request, solicit or influence in any way the action of any agency in relation to the presentation of gifts to me or other officials of the government,” Patterson said in the statement. “I believe it is also necessary to state that I had no prior knowledge of any decision or details relating to the purchase or presentation of gifts to anyone, including myself,” he added.
Several gov’t agencies bought gifts for Patterson, Ferguson: Even as Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson continues to deny ever receiving jewellery presents over the years from the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) and Asphalt Plant, a preliminary review of other agencies covered by his then ministry reveals numerous purchases for him and his then junior minister Annette Ferguson. On one occasion, Ferguson’s personal assistant requested where the purchase should be made and the date it should be delivered, documents seen by Stabroek News revealed. Noted too was that last year, during the elections impasse, gifts were still being purchased by Ministry of Public Infrastructure agencies. The Transport and Harbours Department in May, purchased jewellery for $33,500 and a bottle of perfume for $14,000 as a present for Patterson. With VAT included, the items came up to $54,720. Meanwhile, the Maritime Administration Department’s (MARAD) gift cost some $387,486 and was purchased from Steve’s Jewellery on May 2, 2020. MARAD on April 4, 2020, also requested and had a cheque drawn for $704,292 to pay Steve’s Jewellery for “birthday gifts”. Documents show the cheque was drawn on May 4, 2020. To add to the over $2 million in jewellery received since their tenure in office, documents from the DHB and Asphalt plant show a total of $6.7 million in “donations” from the DHB to the Ministry of Public Infrastructure. Those monies were used to purchase Samsung smart phones totaling $406,000, Dell laptops at $765,000 and two Apple IPad Air for $427,000, for both Patterson and Ferguson. Among the donations were items such as a cocktail table, dresser, king- and queen-sized bed sets, mattresses and a chest of drawers. “Never purchased, never received, never instructed, and never even inquired about it – further have no clue about it. It was not purchased for me or even donated on my behalf. No further comments,” Patterson had on Sunday told Stabroek News when asked about a $504,000 gold band and tie pin, purchased by the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation and Asphalt Plant for him.
Harbour Bridge GM to be sacked: Following through with the recommendations of a probe report and the board of directors of the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB), Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill has decided to send home General Manager Rawlston Adams. Adams has been at the centre of a controversy for purchasing a bracelet worth nearly $900,000 for himself with money from the DHB. Poor management of the bridge’s affairs and the asphalt plant have also been raised. According to Edghill he has spoken to Adams and they are to meet again today to discuss the way forward and his future. He, however, noted that he will not be staying on as general manager at the DHB. “…Having spoken to him, the clear recommendation from the board is for his removal… his removal as General Manager of the Harbour Bridge… and I have said that to him this afternoon. That is what he has to think about and we will discuss how we deal with that and what his own professional dignity and pride will allow him to do and not to do,” Edghill said. He noted that in addition to the recommendations, Adams’ contract has expired making it even more difficult to consider his future as general manager.
Jordan says was unaware of recommendation for
probe of gold trading: Former Finance Minister Winston Jordan says that he was unaware that the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) had recommended a high-level probe of gold trading in 2019. During a telephone interview Jordon told Stabroek News that he had no knowledge about the recommendation. He said at no point was it brought to his attention during his tenure as
Finance Minister. “I don’t recall that any such recommendation was made and even if it was made, it didn’t come to me,” Jordan said. Jordan’s statement will deepen the mystery around the recommendation for the probe of gold trading as the Head of the FIU, Matthew Langevine in a statement on January 6th this year following the publication of a story in Stabroek News said that the news item “appears to be linked to a confidential report shared with a high level committee established in 2019” by Jordan. Langevine further said that the Committee included very senior representatives from the Bank of Guyana, the Guyana Revenue Authority, the Guyana Gold Board (GCB), the Ministry of Finance and the FIU. Jordan on Monday, however, explained that while the FIU falls under the Finance Ministry, “a lot” of its reports went to the Attorney General. As such, Jordan explained that if the recommendation was made, then it probably was forwarded to the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) which comes under the Guyana Police Force. Basil Williams SC was the Attorney General in 2019 when the recommendation was made. However, when Stabroek News reached out to him recently he too said that he had no knowledge of the report.
Harbour bridge company approved $504,000 jewellery purchase for Patterson: Documents from the Demerara Harbour Bridge Company and its Asphalt Plant show that two days before the birthday of former Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson in 2017, a total of $504,000 was approved for the purchase of a gold hand band and tie pin for him. However, it is unclear if the then minister collected the items. This newspaper reached out to Patterson through calls and messages to no avail as all went unanswered although he had read the messages. Patterson is now the Chairman of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee. A requisition to purchase the items, dated 2nd of May 2017 describes the items as a hand band (moveable) and a tie pin which had respective price tags of $424,400 and $78,300. The executing agency was listed as the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation and the monies were to be payable by the same agency to King’s Jewellery World. Certifying that the “funds are available under the subheads affected to enable payment to be made” was the storekeeper of the Asphalt Plant whose signature could not be deciphered. Approval of the sums came from the Asphalt Plant’s General Manager who described what the funds were to be used for as “Minister Patterson’s Birth Anniversary”.
SOCU questions Patterson again about bridge feasibility contract: Over a year after he was questioned by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) and it was found that there was no wrongdoing in the award of the feasibility contract for the New Demerara Harbour Bridge, former Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson was yesterday again questioned by SOCU on the same issue. Recently sacked Demerara Harbour Bridge and Asphalt Plant Manager, Rawlston Adams, was also questioned since the overall $162,653,015 funding for the project came from his agency’s coffers. Patterson and his attorney, Ronald Burch-Smith, yesterday visited SOCU for questioning into the award of the 2016 contract to Dutch firm LievenseCSO, which had conducted a feasibility study and design of a new Demerara Harbour Bridge. The former minister did not answer questions pertaining to his visit and his attorney told Stabroek News that he too would not comment on the issue, but would instead be at court to represent his client, when the need arises. Pressed about yesterday’s visit, Burch-Smith said that “really nothing happened”. When a SOCU official was queried about what happens next, this newspaper was told that Patterson will be charged, as soon as Monday.
Tourism body approves 32 restaurants for reduced indoor dining: Thirty-two restaurants have so far been given approval to go ahead with indoor dining at a 40% capacity in keeping with the amended COVID-19 gazetted emergency measures. This information was relayed to Stabroek News by Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA), Carla James, who stated that as of Thursday, a total of 75 restaurants were inspected with 32 of those being given approval to operate indoor dining. In addition to the approvals, the GTA will be conducting a marketing campaign in an effort to inform the public of the names and locations of the eating houses. The country’s COVID-19 Emergency Measures were amended last week to allow for limited indoor dining at eating establishments. With that amendment, the GTA has been given the responsibility to monitor those establishments to ensure that they adhere to the measures.
In an interview with this newspaper, the GTA director stated that the authority continues to receive calls from establishments seeking approval for indoor dining. She noted that initially, when the amended measures were announced, there was a misconception that the restaurants would have been able to just reopen. “There was a misunderstanding that businesses can just reopen. If you see the COVID guidelines it talks about monitoring, but part of our monitoring process means that you have to seek approval from the GTA first so that we can check off and give you that approval that you can reopen,” James explained. She added that they have managed to clear the air on that issue and since then businesses have been reaching out to inform that they have been putting the relevant systems in place to be inspected.
Ministry’s cold chain capacity for COVID vaccine gets shot in the arm: UNICEF’s Representative Nicolas Pron yesterday handed over two solar fridges and 50 vaccine carriers to Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony which will aid Guyana’s COVID-19 vaccination programme. Provision of the equipment followed a request from the Health Ministry, according to a release from UNICEF. While the donation is in support of the ministry’s Expanded Programme of Immunization, its immediate impact would be in relation to the COVID-19 vaccine which has to be stored at a specific temperature. The release said that the solar fridges will be deployed to regions Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and Eight (PotaroSiparuni) and the vaccine carriers will be distributed to all administrative regions. The fridges and vaccine carriers are “primarily for the COVID-19 vaccine,” said Pron “but they are also for the sustainability of the Expanded Programme of Immunization”. The solar direct drive fridges each have a 99-litre storage capacity. The release said that Solar Direct Drive refrigeration systems are a new generation of equipment and do not require a battery to store energy. The vaccine carriers, meanwhile, can keep vaccines at the correct temperature for over 40 hours while travelling.
Crime
Haresh Singh’s family feels that probe into his murder being neglected: Relatives of Haresh Singh, the West Coast Berbice (WCB) teenager who was murdered days after Isaiah and Joel Henry in what is believed to be a reprisal killing, feel as though his case is being neglected. As such, they are calling on the police to locate and arrest the perpetrator/s so that they can receive justice. “Abe want justice fah abe grandson. Me want justice fah meh grandson…… Meh glad leh them find ah who. Meh want them catch ah who because just suh how them catch them dah them can catch whoever do meh grandson this,” Haresh’s grandmother, Basmattie Singh told Stabroek News. According to Basmattie, the family is eager to know about the investigation. She noted that they haven’t been hearing from the police at all. “Yuh nah hear nothing. Them nah come or call and seh nothing. No body nah come to abe or nobody nah tell abe nothing,” Basmattie said. She added that she plans to visit the police station soon to follow up on the case. Three men: Vinod Gopaul, Anil Sancharra and Akash Singh have been charged with murdering the Henry cousins. Singh allegedly provided the police with a confession admitting his involvement in the crime.
Man robbed of over $8m, car in Mon Repos: A man was yesterday robbed of $8,030,000, one silver-grey car and a Samsung A20 cellular phone valued at $40,000 while uplifting sales monies. A police report informed that Kevin Gildharie, 26, of La Bonne Intention Housing Scheme, East Coast Demerara was relieved of the above mentioned items in the vicinity of Mon Repos Pasture, East Coast Demerara. According to the report, at about 16:30 hours, Gildharie was at Mon Repos and had parked his vehicle on the road when he noticed an unidentified masked male approaching him. The man proceeded to grab hold of Gildharie who tried to free himself from the suspected bandit and was hit in the neck with a hand gun causing him to suffer injuries. The suspect then drove off with the car and cash. Stabroek News has been informed that a suspect is presently in police custody assisting with the investigation.