Over 2000 case dockets misplaced
Corruption was cited as the main cause for the disappearance of almost 2000 case dockets throughout the main Magisterial Districts of Guyana. According to the 2013 Auditor General report a whopping 765 case dockets were listed as misplaced from the Georgetown Magisterial District alone for 2010-2011. The report said that the matter of constantly misplaced case dockets is one which has not been resolved since 2010 despite the recommendations of the Auditor General. The document revealed that the affiliation, criminal and civil case dockets at the Georgetown, West Demerara and East Demerara Magisterial Districts continue to be disorganized with a number of case dockets being misplaced or filed at different locations. This was compounded by the fact that the Register of case dockets did not contain information on the movement of case dockets which is a problem that plagued the year 2011 as well. For the years 2010-2011, a total of 409 case files remain misplaced for the East Demerara Magisterial District. In addition to this, 774 case files were noted to be misplaced within the two years for the West Demerara Magisterial District. It was also observed that more case files were misplaced during the year 2011 as opposed to 2010. An official of the Judiciary explained that they had implemented the Transfer and Movement Registers to monitor all case dockets and it is an exercise being updated on a regular basis. They had also indicated, that at the time of the audit, some case dockets were before the Magistrates for hearing and will be presented for audit examination pending the outcome of the said matters. However, the Audit Office recommended that the Department in charge should institute corrective measures that would ensure that the case dockets are available during every financial audit period, while doing what is necessary to locate outstanding case dockets since 2010. Further, a senior official at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court revealed that the relevant departments have made no efforts to recover the misplaced files. He said that during last year more misplaced files have been added to the earlier figures.
The source said, “Whilst a few files may remain misplaced for genuine reasons, most of the files are missing due to high levels of corruption which have permeated the system.”
