Unapproved $4.5B …Police were unaware Finance Minister could be charged
…were not trained to deal with ‘white collar’ crimes – Ramjattan
Senior ranks of the Guyana Police Force were unaware of the fact that charges could be brought against Minister of
AFC Leader,
Khemraj Ramjattan
Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, and as such has requested that the Alliance for Change (AFC) Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, prepare an extensive report.
Ramjattan, during an interview with this publication yesterday explained why it has taken such a long time for him to submit a formal complaint to the Guyana Police Force.
He said that it was explained that the Police Force has never investigated such a crime.
Ramjattan, a practicing attorney who has been a legal adviser to the Force for several years explained to this publication that its ranks have not been trained to deal with high level “white collar” crimes, such as the one he is alleging against the Finance Minister.
He said that as a result, he will have to outline in detail, precisely how the Minister violated the laws of Guyana when he authorized the spending of in excess of $4.5B that the National Assembly had expressly disapproved.
According to Ramjattan, his complaint is expected to be completed and presented to the Police either today or tomorrow.
Ramjattan told this publication that the senior officers that he has been in contact with are very interested in the case and as such he is confident that they would actively pursue it.
The AFC leader is adamant that when the Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh, authorized the expenditure of in excess of $4.5M, he committed a crime.
Ramjattan had told this publication that despite the matter being in the public domain, he will be preparing a formal complaint to be submitted to the Guyana Police Force.
He had explained that he will be taking this course of action since in previous times when illegalities were uncovered and made public, the Police would in response say that no formal complaint was lodged with them.
According to Ramjattan, approval to spend monies from the coffers can only come through authorization from Parliament.
Finance Minister, Dr Singh, recently tabled a Statement of Excess in Parliament documenting more than $4.5B that the Administration has already spent – allocations that had been voted down by the Opposition – prompting allegations of illegal spending.
Finance Minister,
Dr Ashni Singh
Dr Singh hosted an engagement with the press following the charges of illegality and provided excerpts of the relevant sections of the Constitution that he said authorized spending outside of the budget using the Consolidated Fund.
The Minister, in justifying the legitimacy of the $4.5B expenditure, pointed to Article 218 (3B) of the Guyana Constitution which reads: “If in respect of any financial year it is found—that any moneys have been expended for any purpose in excess of the amount appropriated for that purpose by the Appropriation Act or for a purpose for which no amount has been appropriated by that Act, a supplementary estimate, or as the case may be, a statement of excess showing the sums required or spent shall be laid before the Assembly by the Minister responsible for finance or any other Minister designated by the President.”
A Partnership for National Unit (APNU) has already publicly voiced its displeasure over the actions of the Finance Minister and has also called for his prosecution.
APNU’s Joseph Harmon said that the time is close where persons responsible for the expenditure of public monies, must face the courts for infractions.
“I don’t think there should be any dancing around this point…If you take public money and you spend it in your own way, you should face the music.”
According to Harmon, Guyanese will have to require that this is done.
He was adamant that Ministers who take taxpayers’ dollars and spend it as if it were their own without the approval of the National Assembly “should also face the court and I believe that Dr. Ashni Singh should be on his way there.”