After some 20 years …Court cases on irregularities against the State still await closure

Auditor General (AG) Deodat Sharma has found it appalling that after flagging a few cases of financial improprieties against the State since 1992, these matters still await closure in Guyana’s Court system.

Auditor General (AG), Deodat Sharma

In his 2014 report, Sharma said that over the years, there were four matters which were either being investigated by the police or pending before the Court.
Sharma said that each case was based on apparent irregularities or suspected fraudulent acts perpetrated against the State. The estimated losses, which remain outstanding to date, are valued at $14.382M. He then briefly explained the four cases.

During the period 1992, the Magisterial Court for West Demerara was dealing with the matter of misappropriation of funds in the sum of $6. 2M. Sharma noted that in this instance, no charges have been laid against the alleged employee. He said that the Supreme Court is still pursuing the matter with the relevant authorities.

The said Magisterial Court was also handling a case of overpayment of disbursement of bail money in the sum of $3.1M. This was since 1994. The Auditor General noted that no charges have been laid against the alleged employee but the Supreme Court is still tracking the matter with the relevant authorities.

In 1999, a matter which dealt with receipts being altered to show higher amounts resulting in overpayments to the bailers or defaulters in the sum of $2.4M was still not completed as no charges have been laid against the suspected employee.

In 2000, the magisterial court for Berbice was trying the case of short banking in the sum of $2.1M. Charges were laid against the alleged employee, who is committed to stand trial in the High Court of Berbice. But the matter is yet to be closed.

As recent as September 10, the Head of Department for the Supreme Court of Judicature had sent a reminder to the Finance Secretary requesting a status update.
Sharma however reinforced the importance of the Department taking the necessary follow-up action with the relevant authorities with a view of bringing closure to these matters.
Accusations of sloth in the dispensation of justice and poor protection of case files are just two of the many stones that are often thrown at Guyana’s legislative system.
Local legal minds have said that while they applaud the recent move to increase the number of Judges at the High Court so as to help break down the number of cases delayed for years in the system, there is a need for more judges in the Court of Appeal and for records of the courts to be better protected.

Another peeve for local legal luminaries is the slow dispensation of justice.
A local lawyer had said, “Trials, I can say from years of experience, occur in a timely manner in the Eastern Caribbean States and it is about time that Guyana implements the New Civil Procedure Rules. The New Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) are the rules of civil procedure used by the Court of Appeal, High Court of Justice, and County Courts in civil cases in England and Wales.”
“The CPR was designed to improve access to justice by making legal proceedings cheaper, quicker, and easier to understand for non-lawyers. These have been out since in the early 2000’s and all the other Caribbean countries have adopted and implemented it. We have been toying with it; everything necessary to promote its implementation has been done. It has been approved by the Parliament and I have been hearing for some time that it will be implemented, and five years have elapsed and it is not in place. It will most certainly help with the backlog of cases and it will also help to expedite trials.”

Distinguished Guyanese Scholar, Sir Fenton Ramsahoye had also emphasized the need for serious attention to be paid to Guyana’s judicial system. The Senior Counsel (S.C) opined that the absence of ‘checks and balances’ is also causing inordinate delays for certain high profile constitutional cases.
Sir Fenton said that it is disappointing that matters such as the budget cuts case for 2012, is yet to be heard in the Court of Appeal.
The attorney-at-law said that it is certainly a disturbing matter and should be taken into consideration by the current government.
The Senior Counsel said that the current state of the judiciary is not satisfactory because there are too many delays in the system. But while he is disappointed in the apparent lack of discipline in the organization, he said that the judiciary is not alone responsible.

Sir Fenton asserted that some lawyers need to accept some of the blame for the disorderliness they create by seeking unnecessary postponements.
He opined that some attorneys do not approach the law with a certain degree of respect, discipline and importance to ensure they avoid delays.
“Hence my position that the other elements of the Judiciary cannot be completely at fault because they alone cannot contribute to the disfunctioning system,” the Senior Counsel added.
Sir Fenton said that what is urgently needed is a whole revision of the system whereby, the judges and the lawyers would accept their responsibilities and act accordingly for it is far removed from that at the moment.