APNU takes umbrage as…

Police arrest City Hall’s Royston King
–haul him before the Court for fraud

FORTY-nine-year-old Local Government officer attached to the Georgetown Mayor and City Council, Mr. Royston King, yesterday appeared before Magistrate Judy Latchman to answer a fraud-related charge.

King, of Lot 3279 Canal Place South Ruimveldt Park, Georgetown, was not required to plead to the charge, which said that on July 13, 2012, he wrote a letter to Beacon Foundation and signed same saying that he was Town

Royston King, in handcuffs, on his way to Magistrate Judy Latchman’s courtroom

Clerk Acting, which he was not at the said time.
He was represented by attorneys-at-law, Ms. Kendacie Rodney and Mr. Nigel Hughes.
In a brief bail application, the Court heard that the defendant is a father of six, the youngest being 14 years old.
Rodney told the Court that her client has no prior convictions, and is not a flight risk, and that he is ready to abide with any conditions by the Court.
The Prosecution, which was led by Police Inspector Joel Ricknauth, did not object to bail, which was set at $70,000.
After his Court hearing, King was present at the City Council’s statutory meeting yesterday, which was held in City Hall’s Chambers.

The Main Opposition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), has since issued a statement condemning King’s arrest, and made clear that it stands in solidarity with him.
The Party, in its statement, said, “APNU strongly condemns the harassment of Mr. King by agents of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration. The people of the city of Georgetown want and demand local government elections. APNU affirms that Georgetown needs elections and not politically-motivated arrests, and calls on the PPP/C Administration to bring to an end this type of political harassment.”

CALL FOR INVESTIGATIONS
The fraud charge follows a call from Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Mr. Norman Whittaker, in April, for the Guyana Police Force and the Office of the Auditor-General to assist in investigations against King, the then Public Relations Officer of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC).
King allegedly misrepresented the capacity of acting Town Clerk, signing tax waivers for the Chairman of Beacons Foundation, Patrick de Groot.
According to a statement from acting Town Clerk of Georgetown, Carol Sooba, seen by this newspaper, the letter which King fraudulently signed regarded the exemption of payment of rates and taxes of the Beacon Foundation at 127 Carmichael and Quamina Streets, South Cummingsburg to the Georgetown Mayor and City Council in excess of some $36M.
In circulated letters to the Auditor General and the Commissioner of Police, which this newspaper has seen, The Local Government Minister bemoaned that the power to exempt owners of certain properties from liability to pay rates is vested either wholly or partially in the Council and not in the Town Clerk or any other singular officer.
The dispute of the Town Clerk’s appointment has spanned over the tenures of three successive Local Government Ministers; Kellawan Lall, Ganga Persaud and Norman Whittaker.
The appointment of Royston King as the acting Town Clerk was also published on July 25, 2012.
However, it should be noted that King’s appointment was not in keeping with the provisions of the Municipal Act Ch28:01. In any case, King would have issued the missive to de Groot some 12 days before his announced appointment by the Council, without the consent of the minister.
According to a legal letter in 2011 from the Chambers of Legal Practitioners Luckoo and Luckoo, signed by Robert R. Ramcharran, “the power to appoint persons to hold or act in any local government office and the power to remove any such person from office shall (be) vested in the Commission [Local Government Commission]…”, this according to Chapter 28:01 Section 116(1).
The Act further provides that in the absence of any such commission, the powers of the Commission are duly vested in the Minister of Local Government & Regional Development.
The provision gives the Council the ability to select the most suitable candidates but the vested authority to appoint any office-bearer rested with the minister himself.
King gave all assurance in a letter, seen by this newspaper, to the Chairman of Beacon Foundation, Patrick de Groot, that in keeping with the Municipal and District Councils Act, Chapter 28:01, section 212, Beacon Foundation had met the requirements to be granted exemption and further declared that “the council will have no objection to Beacon Foundation being granted exemption of Rates.”
However, he had not acted in this capacity by appointment of the minister and as such would not have been authorised to make such a decision in the absence of the approval of the Council.

CONFIRMATION
At the start of July, the Office of the Auditor General was confirmed to be investigating King’s actions of King.
“We, at the Ministry [of Local Government and Regional Development] essentially asked the Auditor-General to conduct an inquiry to determine, indeed, if there was any irregularity,” Minister Whittaker said at the time.
Two weeks later, the Auditor-General, Mr. Deodat Sharma confirmed that the King’s case had been handed over to the police.
In an invited comment, Sharma told the Guyana Chronicle that the Audit Office found that there was a clearly established case for a police investigation. He further stated that the case had been handed over to the relevant authorities.
The Auditor-General confirming the alleged ‘fraudulent’ nature of King’s actions, said, “We [Audit Office] had received the information, [and] the police were asked to look at the matter… The case was very straightforward. The matter is with the police … [and] the police have started their investigation.”
King is expected to return to Court on September 16 before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.

(By Geeta Rampersaud)

(Additional reporting by Vanessa Narine)