Ramjattan to seek answers from SOCU after dismissal of GRDB fraud charges
Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan says he will be contacting the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) soon to enquire into the circumstances under which a high profile case it was prosecuting was dismissed for want of prosecution.
Senior Magistrate Leron Daly dismissed several charges against six former members of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRBD) on Thursday after SOCU Special Prosecutor Lawrence Harris failed to make an appearance when the matter was called.
Given Harris’ absence on at least three consecutive occasions, counsel for the accused persons, Anil Nandlall and Glenn Hanoman, applied for the charges to be dismissed.
Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday, Ramjattan said “I do not understand the reason he did not turn up” and added that the dismissal is a “big disappointment.”
Asked whether he has been informed of the matter’s dismissal, Ramjattan said “Nobody has contacted me, but I will be contacting them…I will be asking them to give an explanation.”
Harris, when contacted by Stabroek News yesterday, declined to comment on the matter until he has had a chance to fully brief his superiors at SOCU.
Stabroek News made an attempt to contact Althea Padmore, acting head of SOCU, but these attempts were unsuccessful.
Those freed of their charges were: Jagnarine Singh, former GRDB General Manager; Prema Roopnarine, former Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture; Ricky Ramraj, agricultural consultant; Badrie Persaud, business consultant; Dharamkumar Seeraj, the General Secretary of the Rice Producers Association and a Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) Member of Parliament (MP); and Nigel Dharamlall, also a PPP/C MP.
Their charges related to their alleged failure to record entries for funds amounting to over $200 million in the agency’s general ledger.