The Guyana Government has not ruled out seeking the extradition of former Deputy Chief Executive Officer

Ash Deonarine

Aeshwar Deonarine from Canada to face larceny charges here.
Speaking with reporters last evening, Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan said that local law enforcement has already engaged the International Police (Interpol) and will soon be seeking the help of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to first locate Deonarine.

The former GPL top man, who is reportedly a Canadian citizen, fled to Canada last year. He was sent on leave by the new coalition government, which unseated the People’s Progressive Party Civic from office in May last year.
Deonarine and former Board Member Carvil Duncan are jointly charged with two counts of conspiring to steal in excess of $28M from the Guyana power and light incorporated.
Deonarine is accused of illegally transferring $27.8 million to his account, with Duncan’s assistance, as a retroactive increase from January, 2013 to June, 2015.
The charges were read last week in Deonarine’s absence.
According to Minister Ramjattan, Guyana has already started the process to get Deonarine back in Guyana to face charges.

“Interpol first and then we’re gonna ask the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, for not necessarily extradition at this stage. We’re asking to identify where he is and if he could come back on his own accord because he’s charged here. If he doesn’t want to come then we’re gonna start thinking extradition,” Minister Ramjattan stated.
Prior to the charges, Deonarine had promised to repay the money to forego prosecution.

Ramjattan did not give a timeframe for the local authorities to initiate the extradition process.
He explained that the extradition process itself could also take some time since in most cases such matters involve a lengthy court process.
“He might want to go and tell the court in Canada that this is all fabrication, and he might want to prolong the process over there,” Ramjattan said.
He noted that as far as he is aware, Deonarine is a citizen of Canada and this could also make the process of getting him back to Guyana a little less straightforward.
“If he was a Permanent Resident we would get him very quickly,” the Public Security Minister stated.

Deonarine is among the first set of Government Corporation Heads who have been placed before the court as part of the new government’s crackdown on alleged corruption.