Securities council delivered letter to Felix on Ponzi concerns in October last year
The Guyana Securities Council (GSC) delivered a letter to the offices of Citizenship Minister Winston Felix on October 25th last year detailing concerns about pyramid-type schemes which are currently the subject of a major police investigation as thousands of persons here might have been defrauded.
The letter dated October 24th has assumed significance as Felix in a statement on Monday said that he could not “recall ever receiving information in any format, whether orally or in writing, from the Guyana Securities Council”.
Questions have been raised as to why regulators and the ministries involved did not take more decisive action against the suspected Ponzi scheme operators.
Since his statement, Stabroek News has seen an entry in a delivery book showing receipt of the letter by the Citizenship Ministry from the GSC.
Felix said on Monday that he only became aware of the concerns about the scheme when he received a letter dated 2019.08.28 from his superior.
“My recollection of this matter comes from the receipt of a letter dated 2019.08.28 from my superior. Attached to this letter was an anonymous and undated letter that alleged that illegal financial trading was being undertaken by certain Cuban nationals married to Guyanese and seeking to use that relationship to secure Naturalisation in Guyana;
“Not having the investigative capacity within the Department of Citizenship, I forwarded the anonymous and undated letter I received from my superior to the Commissioner of Police for `an investigation to be conducted and, where necessary, take appropriate action’. My covering letter was dated September 4, 2019”.
He added that he received guidance from the Commissioner of Police in a letter dated 2020-04-17, seven months after the investigation commenced, that following advice from the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), a name stated, “this matter be treated as closed and that Yuri Garcia Dominguez and Laicy Garcia Pedroso continue the process of applying for citizenship”.