Minister of State, Joseph Harmon responding to questions about SOCU’s operation

– established as an arm of the Police Force, but budgeted for under Ministry of Presidency

BY EDWARD LAYNE

Confusion over the mandate of under whose purview the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) falls continue to deepens as it was revealed in the National Assembly Thursday that SOCU is being budgeted for under the Ministry of the Presidency and not the Guyana Police Force (GPF), despite being identified as an agency of the force.

A total of $40 million was budgeted for SOCU in 2016.

During consideration of the 2016 Budget Estimates, People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Member of Parliament (MP) Juan Edghill asked if the SOCU was established under the Guyana Police Force, then why is it funded under the Ministry of the Presidency’s Defence and National Security?

MP Juan Edghill questioning the operations of SOCU in Parliament

He also requested a breakdown of SOCU expenses, the employees and their salaries and non-salary benefits.

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, in response, told the House that this is a temporary arrangement, adding that the Unit will be moved under the Public Security Ministry.

He said for security reasons all the information requested cannot be provided, “I will consult and will provide as much information as available,” he said.

SOCU was established in 2013 as a law enforcement agency to investigate, exclusively, allegations and reports relating to money laundering and terrorism as part of Guyana’s international obligations to strengthen its Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML&CFT) apparatus.

It was expected to work in tandem with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) which falls under the Ministry of Finance.

Opposition Chief Whip Gail Teixeira explained that SOCU was placed under then Office of the President (now Ministry of the Presidency) since at the time of its establishment the AML& CFT amendments were not passed by Parliament.

She added that having been passed in 2015, the SOCU should have been removed and placed as a separate entity, similar to the FIU and should have been budgeted for under the Ministry of Finance.

It is important to note that while the agency is not under the Guyana Police Force, Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan announced last week during the Budget debates that protocols were drafted to bring SOCU’s operations in line with the GPF – totally conflicting the manner in which it was budgeted.

Another interesting utterance is that of Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud who said on January 15, 2016 that he was unaware of the circumstances surrounding the probe by the SOCU of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) into the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), including the identity of the persons under Police surveillance and who gave the order for the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) to get involved.

Interestingly, President David Granger had made it clear that no politician was giving directions to SOCU, but rather those instructions have to come from the Police Chief.

“As far as I know the SOCU is conducting some investigtions…the request may have came from the police force to the defence force…no politician gets involved in giving directional objectives to the police force or Chief of Staff,” said the President.

This is an indication that indeed SOCU falls under the GPF.          SOCU has been under heavy scrutiny from the political Opposition and rights group after a botched operation on December 30, 2015, involving a high-speed chase down Carifesta Avenue, Georgetown, left three persons dead –GDF Sergeant Robert Pyle, his wife Stacy Pyle and the driver of a Canter truck Linden Eastman.

Sergeant Pyle and a team from SOCU were supposed to have been conducting surveillance on a home of former Head ofNICIL Winston Brassington at Cowan Street, Kingston, Georgetown, and became engaged in the high-speed chase down Carifesta Avenue with a vehicle occupied by Opposition Parliamentarian Charles Ramson Jr, his wife Alana Seebarran and her brother.

During that high-speed chase, Pyle slammed into the truck that was travelling in the opposite direction, resulting in the deaths of the three.

While the GDF claimed Pyle had been on an official operation, there were reports that he was never instructed to get involved in any chase.

The Government has since refused to launch a Commission of Inquiry into the incident, prompting condemnation from politicians and rights group.