Following criminal charges…Carvil Duncan’s status on constitutional bodies questioned
Former Board member of the Guyana Power and Light Inc., Carvil Duncan, who is currently facing the
Carvil Duncan
court on larceny charges, is consulting with his attorney with respect to the impact the court proceedings will have on his tenure on several Constitutional Service Commissions.
Duncan, who is presently the Chairman of the Public Service Commission, and who also serves on the Judicial and Police Service Commissions, was slapped with three charges, related to monies from the Guyana Power and Light Inc.
His position is being questioned by some observers who believe that Duncan’s tenure in the above mentioned Commissions could become controversial since he will be dealing with issues that involve persons in conflicting positions.
“Imagine he is appearing before a Magistrate, who will be subjected to decisions made by him as a member of the Judicial Service Commission. Additionally, he was charged by ranks of the Guyana Police Force, whom he may have to be deal with at the level of the Police Service Commission, of which Duncan is also a member,” an attorney-at-law told this newspaper.
But Duncan does not see it that way.
“I do not see it that way. The matter is being looked at by my lawyer,” Duncan told Kaieteur News in an invited comment yesterday.
Duncan was on Tuesday last placed on $1M bail after he pleaded not guilty to the three charges.
Police alleged that on March 31, 2015 at Georgetown, he stole GYD$984,900, property of GPL; on the same day at Georgetown, he conspired with GPL’s then Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Aeshwar Deonarine to steal $984,900, property of the power company and that he conspired with Deonarine to commit a felony that is to say between May 7 and 8 at Georgetown he conspired to steal GYD$27,757,500, property of that utility company.
According to Duncan the charges are merely allegations. “Anybody is innocent until proven guilty,” he said.
Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo believes that it’s up to the embattled Duncan to do the honorable thing and remove himself from the Constitutional Commissions he currently sits on.
“I would expect that there would be a public interest side of this. I’m not judging him because a man is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty. But it’s maybe up to him to withdraw from all of these positions,” the Prime Minister told this newspaper in an invited comment last Saturday.
“I don’t know of any law that tells me that you could remove someone if they are charged and placed before court….I haven’t looked at the scenario and I’m not aware that government has looked at it,” Prime Minister Nagamootoo added.
One letter writer, an attorney at law, in yesterday’s edition cited the ‘dictat’, which speaks to public officials who have been charged for some offence to be interdicted from duty until the conclusion of the matter.
The writer noted that depending on the result of the matter, the official is either fired or reinstated.
“This rule seems to be honoured more in the breach than in the observance as in this classic case of a serving member of the Judicial Service Commission and the Police Service Commission, both constitutional bodies that are advocates of the law,” the letter writer stated.
