Police multi-million fraud…
By Renay Sambach
Kaieteur News – Today, I will chronicle for you the facts of ongoing matters that have brought intense scrutiny on the spending of the Guyana Police Force (GPF).
Former Deputy Finance Officer, Assistant Superintendent Roxanne Griffith-Adams.
Deputy Commander of Division 4 ‘B’, Superintendent Lorraine Saul.
Before the court are several members of the Force who allegedly misappropriated millions of dollars that were entrusted to the GPF’s Finance Department. The Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), an arm of the GPF, had charged and placed before the court those believed to have had a hand in the misappropriation.
A total of 11 members of the Force were charged and their matters are being heard in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before the Chief Magistrate, Ann McLennan.
The ranks who are facing fraud charges are: Deputy Commander of Division 4 ‘B’, Senior Superintendent Lorraine Saul; Police Finance Officer, Superintendent Marcelene Washington; former Deputy Finance Officer, Deputy Superintendent Frank Jackman-Wilburg, and former Deputy Finance Officer, Assistant Superintendent Roxanne Griffith-Adams. It should be noted that Saul and Washington are currently out of the jurisdiction.
Other ranks that were charged are: Officer-in-Charge at the Police Finance Department (ag), Assistant Superintendent Kurt Smith; former Assistant Commissioner of Police, Kevin Adonis; Sergeants Jermaine Fraser and Michael Corbin; Corporal Rawle Haynes and Constables, Jenneka Carmichael and Tatyana Smith.
Saul, Washington, Jackman-Wilburg, Griffith-Adams and Kurt Smith were charged for conspiracy to commit fraud, in relation to the falsification of meals payment.
Police Finance Officer, Superintendent Marcelene Washington.
Former Deputy Finance Officer, Deputy Superintendent Frank Jackman-Wilburg.
Assistant Superintendent, Kurt Smith.
Adonis, Haynes, Fraser and Corbin were slapped with allegedly stealing millions of dollars that were allocated for ranks who performed extra duties. While, Tatyana Smith and Carmichael were charged for erasing critical data in one of the fraud cases.
The most recent matter is that of Saul, Washington and Griffith-Adams. The trio was slapped with one joint conspiracy to commit a felony charge and Saul was slapped with an individual falsification of the account charge.
That charge was only read to Griffith-Adams who was present in court. It alleges that Saul, Washington and Griffith-Adams, between November 2, 2020, and November 24, 2020 at the GPF Headquarters, Eve Leary, Georgetown, while being officers of the GPF, with intent to defraud, conspired with each other and other persons to falsify a feeding account in the sum of $1.1M to purportedly show that meals were provided to Officers and Inspectors of the Tactical Services Unit (TSU) who performed fixed-point duty at the Unit from October 16 to October 31, 2020.
That charge was laid indictable and Griffith-Adams was not required to enter a plea – she was placed on $150,000 bail and is expected to make her next court appearance on May 14, 2021.
According to facts of the aforementioned charge, Saul was stationed at the Felix Austin Police College Mess, as the officer-in-charge, and on the date mentioned in the charge, she created feeding accounts for ranks that were performing fixed point duties. It is alleged that the account that Saul prepared was for duties that never existed. It is further alleged that Saul conspired with Washington, Jackman-Wilburg and Griffith-Adams, who approved and processed the accounts at the Police Finance Department.
Another recent case involves Saul, Washington and Jackman-Wilburg. They were slapped with two joint conspiracies to commit felony charges. Saul was also slapped with two individual counts of falsification of accounts.
As Saul and Washington are not in the jurisdiction, the joint charges were read to Jackman-Wilburg. The charges were indictable; as such, he was not required to enter a plea.
The first charge alleges that Saul, Washington and Jackman-Wilburg between November 2, 2020, and December 3, 2020 at the GPF Headquarters, Eve Leary, Georgetown, while being officers of the GPF, with intent to defraud, conspired with each other and other persons, to falsify a feeding account in the sum of $2.2M, to purportedly show that meals were provided to ranks who performed fixed point duties at Mounted Branch between October 16, 2020 and October 31, 2020.
The second joint charge alleges that the trio on the same date and at the same location, while being officers of the GPF, with intent to defraud, conspired with each other and other persons to falsify a feeding account in the sum of $1.4M to purportedly show that meals were provided to ranks who performed fixed point duties at the Suicide Helpline between October 16, 2020 and October 31, 2020.
Chief Magistrate McLennan had placed Jackman-Wilburg on $150,000 bail and adjourned the matter to May 14, 2021.
A week before those charges were filed in court, a matter that involves Saul and Kurt Smith was called. For that case, the first charge alleges that between December 18, 2020 and December 28, 2020 at Georgetown, while being officers of the GPF, Saul and Kurt Smith conspired with each other and other persons to falsify a payment of $1,350,000 to show that meals were supplied to ranks of the Riot Unit training between December 1, 2020 and December 15, 2020.
The second charge alleges that the duo between December 18, 2020 and December 28, 2020 at Georgetown, while being officers of the GPF, they conspired with each other and others to falsify the payment of $465,000 to show that meals were supplied to ranks working at the Georgetown Prison between December 1, 2020, and December 15, 2020.
Kurt Smith was not required to plead to the indictable charges and Chief Magistrate McLennan placed him on $100,000 bail on each charge. That matter was also adjourned to May 14, 2021.
According to the police facts, Saul was the officer-in-charge of the Brickdam Police Station’s Other Ranks Mess before she was moved. The Mess provides breakfast, lunch and dinner to ranks stationed at various stations and locations within Regional Division 4A.
According to the facts of the charges, between December 1, 2020 and December 15, 2020, Saul allegedly inflated several accounts for meals provided by the Mess for reimbursement at the Police Finance Department.
Saul reportedly prepared an account dated December 18, 2020 and a petty contract dated December 18, 2020 for meals allegedly supplied to ranks that performed duties at ‘A’ Division Riot Unit Training between December 1, 2020 and December 15, 2020, to the tune of $1,350,000 when there was no such training done for that period.
It is alleged that she also prepared another account and petty contract with the same dates for meals supplied to ranks that performed fixed point duties at the Georgetown Prison between December 1, 2020 and December 15, 2020 to the tune of $648,000. On that account, Saul reportedly inflated the number of ranks and number of meals in the sum of $465,000. Smith was charged for allegedly conspiring with Saul to defraud and authorise the payments when there was no training for the period mentioned on the account and there was no feeding of the ranks at the Georgetown Prison for the same period.
Moreover, Jenneka Carmichael of Lot 121 Onderneeming, West Coast Berbice, and Tatyana Smith, 21, of Lot 43 Third Street, Alberttown, on April 21, 2021, appeared before Chief Magistrate McLennan and was placed on $150,000 bail each for allegedly deleting electronic data relevant to one of the fraud cases.
They denied the charge which alleges that between January 28, 2021 and February 4, 2021 at the GPF’s Headquarters, Eve Leary, Kingston, Georgetown, they intentionally and without lawful excuse or justification, deleted electronic data from the GPF’s computer that was in the administrative office of the Felix Austin Police College Mess.
According to the facts of the charge, Carmichael and Smith are clerks at the Felix Austin Police College. They were charged by SOCU. Last year, an investigation was launched into the alleged misappropriation of $150M from the Police Finance Department. SOCU carried out the probe and several senior officials were either sent on leave or relocated. A few officers were already placed before the court for fraud charges.
However, it is alleged that before SOCU could have accessed the computers with the related data, the women had deleted the data. The women are said to be the only persons with access to the computers.
On March 26, 2021 former Assistant Commissioner of Police, Kevin Adonis of 95 Stewartville, West Bank Demerara, and three other members of the GPF, made their first court appearance after they were slapped with a $19M fraud charge.
Also charged were: Rawle Haynes of Hydronie, East Bank Essequibo; Jermaine Fraser of 4116 Phase One West Minster, West Bank Demerara, and Michael Corbin of 315 First Avenue, La Parfait Harmonie, West Bank Demerara. The four men appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
Fraser, Haynes, Corbin and Adonis were slapped with a joint charge, while Corbin and Haynes were slapped with individual charges. They were not required to plead to the indictable charges after they were read to them.
According to the facts of those charges, the missing $19,030,767 was allocated for officers who performed extra duties. However, there are documents that show that those officers signed and received the monies, but it was later revealed that the officers never received the monies.
The matter was reported and an investigation was launched. The four men were subsequently charged. Corbin was placed on $250,000 bail; Haynes was placed on $200,000 bail, while Adonis and Fraser were placed on $150,000 bail each.
Reports indicate that last year Corbin and Fraser were slapped with 21 fraud charges in relation to a total sum of $11,385,000. They had appeared before the Principal Magistrate, Faith McGusty, in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts and were placed on $250,000 bail each.
It is alleged that the duo on April 4, 2019 at Eve Leary, Georgetown, while being employed as a clerk or servant at the GPF’s Finance Office, with intent to defraud, they willfully made false entries into the accounts of their employer.