SOCU to hire more investigators
GUYANA - The Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) will soon have new investigators to help with the more than 200 investigations that it is currently conducting. According to head of SOCU, Assistant Commissioner Sydney James, the investigators will be drawn from the police force and from among civilians who possess the requisite expertise to help in this regard. On the question of staffing being a challenge, James said that because many of the investigations are overlapping it’s easy for the investigators to do their work.
“A lot of the forensic audits are interrelated. Sometimes you might take statements that may take you in several directions and consequently several other different investigations.” Addressing criticisms leveled against the organization, James said that he and his investigators are focused on professional delivery. These same sentiments were proffered by the Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, recently. The SOCU head also pointed out that he was hired by the previous administration in 2014 and he was only doing the job that he was mandated to do. Further, the Assistant Commissioner of Police stated that his organization is not singling out any person or organization but it is simply going where the investigations lead. Turning to the magnitude of malfeasance that SOCU is looking at James said that while he cannot give an exact figure he was sure it was many billions of dollars. Responding to criticisms of slothfulness of prosecution after interviews would have been conducted. James said that after SOCU would have done its part to investigate and interview suspects and when those files are sent to the relevant authorities for their perusal and decision that is something he has no control of.
On the role that the UK fraud expert Dr. Sam Sittlington played in aiding the work of SOCU, James said that he wanted to make clear that Sittlington’s involvement in Guyana was catered for in a memorandum of understating (MOU) signed in 2014 between the previous administration and the UK government. James was high in praise for the work that Sittlington did at SOCU. He said that his training and assistance to the staff there were invaluable.
(kaieteurnews.com) NORTH KOREA - North Korea has warned of “catastrophic consequences” in response to any further provocations by the US, days after a US navy battle group was sent to waters off the Korean peninsula.
The decision to divert the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and other battleships from a planned visit to Australia to the western Pacific came after tensions increased over ongoing military drills involving American and South Korean forces that Pyongyang regards as a dress rehearsal for an invasion. “We will hold the US wholly accountable for the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by its outrageous actions,” North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying. “(North Korea) is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the US.” The spokesman North Korea is vowing tough action to counter any moves by the US after it sent the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and its battle group to waters off the Korean peninsula. (TheGuardian.com) cited Washington’s refusal to rule out a pre-emptive strike against North Korean missile sites as justification for its nuclear program. “The prevailing grave situation proves once again that North Korea was entirely just when it increased in every way its military capabilities for selfdefense and pre-emptive attack with a nuclear force as a pivot,” the spokesman said, according to KCNA. “We will take the toughest counteraction against the provocateurs in order to defend ourselves by powerful force of arms.” Last week’s US strike against a Syrian base is also being seen as a warning to North Korea, after Donald Trump said Washington was prepared to act alone if China failed to exert more pressure on its neighbor to halt its missile and nuclear weapons programs. North Korea again defied UN resolutions banning it from developing ballistic missile technology with another test-launch on the eve of Trump’s summit with the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, in Florida last week. White House officials have signaled that all options – including pre-emptive strikes – remain on the table in addressing North Korea’s steady advance towards developing longrange missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead as far as the US mainland.
(TheGuardian.com)