SARA readying six cases to reclaim stolen gov’t property
It will not be long before the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) takes its first set of cases to court to recover stolen state assets, according to its Director Professor Clive Thomas, who is confident that the evidence gathered and the strong local and international legal support that is being given will ensure successful prosecutions. Thomas told Sunday Stabroek that in the third quarter SARA would take six cases to court but he did not want to go into the details of the cases, only saying that they involve money, land and buildings, belonging to the state and in some instances involve multiple people. “We are now working in collaboration with the Caribbean Institute of Forensic Accounting with support from international agencies to deliver within 90 days starting Monday [tomorrow]… the completion of the investigative cases that we have identified in preparation for them to go to court,” he told Sunday Stabroek during a recent interview. “We are investigating and we are going to go to court certainly within the third quarter of this year,” he stressed, while noting that litigation is a certainty.
Monday, March 12
Strategy mapped out for 2020 polls
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday went into full campaign mode as he laid out plans for the his People’s Progressive Party (PPP) which he urged supporters to follow as he believes it was key to ensuring a victory at the 2020 General and Regional Elections. Using the centennial birth anniversary of late PPP founder and President, Dr. Cheddi Jagan, which was held at Babu John, Corentyne, Berbice yesterday. Jagdeo, whose party lost the 2015 general elections by under 5,000 votes, told attendees that he forecasts a PPP win by 50,000 votes come 2020 but that it would not be realized without hard work and the following through of his plan. “I want the media and our supporters to know that we will not be lying down. We will be looking for every loophole,” he told the over 1,500 attendees at the event. He would later add, even as he reminded that the next election will be one of the most critical in the country’s history, “We will wage the fight until the PPP is victorious. And no matter what (President David) Granger does, we are sending the message that this is a different time.”
Guyana fiscal oil take will be around 37%
Economist Tarron Khemraj says that from all of the analyses he has seen of the oil deal for the Stabroek Bock, Guyana will end up getting just around 37% of the gross revenues while ExxonMobil and its partners will cream off the rest. In his Business Page column in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek, Khemraj also suggests that there may not be much room for Guyana to back out of the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEGPL). The APNU+AFC government’s secret renegotiation in 2016 of the 1999 PSA has evoked condemnation from prominent individuals and parts of civil society. The much-maligned agreement was concluded without expert negotiators being employed and after the discovery by EEGPL of reserves of over one billion barrels of oils in the Liza block with the prospect of more finds. The reserves have now ballooned to over three billion barrels of oil with more likely to be added. However, Guyana’s take will remain fixed to the 2016 terms no matter how much oil is found.
Regent St vendor fatally stabbed at Buxton
A Regent Street clothing vendor was fatally stabbed yesterday morning during an attack by a Buxton, East Coast Demerara resident. The dead man, Leon Delph, called “Solo”, 34, a father of three, resided in Quamina Street, Georgetown. Delph was reportedly attacked at around 6.30 am on the Buxton Railway Embankment where he had gone with friends to participate in the Buxton Mashramani celebrations. Police in a statement said that at about 7 am, the suspect saw Delph inside of a minibus on the Buxton Railway Embankment and he immediately approached and stabbed him in the region of his neck with a knife and ran away. Although Delph was bleeding profusely, police said he armed himself with a broken bottle and a knife and pursued the suspect. After catching up with the suspect, he inflicted several wounds on him before he collapsed. Delph was rushed to the GPHC and was pronounced dead on arrival.
Tuesday, March 13
CCJ hears arguments in third term case
In a more than six-hour long hearing before the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), attorneys for the state yesterday argued that amendments to effect the presidential term limit were done in accordance with the Constitution, even as those representing the challenger maintained that a referendum was required and that the two-term restriction is unlawful. The attorneys on both sides yesterday fiercely defended their respective positions before the Trinidad-based final court, which is expected to pronounce definitively on the challenge mounted to term limits by private citizen Cedric Richardson, thereby ending speculation about another run for office by former two-term president Bharrat Jagdeo. The state has appealed decisions by both the Supreme Court and the Guyana Court of Appeal in favour of Richardson, who in the run-up to the 2015 general elections had challenged restrictions created by amendments to Article 90 of the Constitution that were enacted in 2001 after the bipartisan Constitution reform process. His argument had been that Act No 17 of 2001, which was passed by a two-third majority of all elected members of the National Assembly to effect the term-limits, “unconstitutionally curtails and restricts” his sovereign and democratic rights and freedom as a qualified elector “to elect the person of former president Bharrat Jagdeo” as executive president.
Indian PM to visit
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to visit Guyana later this year. This was announced yesterday by the Ministry of the Presidency. It gave no date for the visit. The announcement comes on the heels of a visit over the weekend to India by President David Granger for an international solar summit. It will be the first trip here by an Indian Prime Minister since the visit by the late Indira Gandhi in 1968.
No-confidence motion against Town Clerk rejected
City Councillor Sherod Duncan yesterday failed in his quest to have the council argue a motion of no-confidence against Town Clerk Royston King. Duncan’s motion was disallowed when a majority of councillors voted to accept legal advice which declared that the policy-making body has no right to declare a lack of confidence in its chief administrative officer. The decision was made after
Mayor Patricia Chase-Green read the advice procured by King from former Magistrate Maxwell Edwards. Duncan has since indicated that he will be seeking his own independent legal opinion. The motion was thrown out despite the fact that previous councils that Chase-Green sat on had moved six motions of no confidence against former Town Clerk, Carol Sooba. Edwards argued that a vote of no confidence amounts to a disciplinary action against the Town Clerk, a function which is outside the powers of the Council.
Wednesday, March 14
Evidence was sufficient to close Lindo Creek massacre probe
The police were satisfied that there was sufficient evidence at the close of the Lindo Creek massacre case to determine with certainty those who were responsible for killing the eight miners, retired police commissioner Seelall Persaud testified yesterday. Persaud, who had been the Crime Chief in 2008 when the massacre occurred, took the stand before the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the massacre and stated that the force was satisfied enough to follow the directions of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to no longer pursue police action on the case. CoI Chairman Justice (rtd) Donald Trotman enquired as to whether any efforts were made to have a Coroner’s Inquest performed, to which Persaud stated that those are only done in cases where the cause of death of the individual is unknown, and that advice is usually passed by the DPP. “I see it different in this case because the evidence collected would have shown with some amount of certainty who were responsible,” he stated.
Dredge owner charged with theft of $10M mining equipment
A dredge owner was yesterday placed on $500,000 bail after he denied a charge that he stole mining equipment worth $10 million. It was alleged that between February 1st and February 15th, at King Street, Republic Park, East Bank Demerara, Vickram Singh, 32, stole a wash plant, valued $10 million. It was the property of Maria Ferreira. Singh denied the charge. (A wash plant is a piece of equipment used for gold mining). The complainant stated that the defendant came to her home with a truck and removed the item while she was not present. The prosecutor made no objections to bail but requested that bail be set at a substantial amount and that conditions be attached. Georgetown Magistrate Fabayo Azore placed the man on $500,000 bail on condition that he lodge his passport and report to the Providence Police Station every Friday until the completion of his trial.
Wife, friend found guilty of murdering US citizen
and her friend, who were both found guilty by a mixed jury today, stood in the dock as the verdict was read to them. Their faces displayed no emotion while relatives, who had gathered to render support, began to weep quietly.