Why aren’t these MARDS fraudsters before SOCU?

Dear Editor,

On March 23, 2017, Guyana Times reported, “APNU/AFC officials implicated in multi-million-dollar fraud”. Two online news media, Newsroom and Citizens Report,  also carried similar headlines, alleging that APNU+AFC Region 5 Councillor Abel Seetaram and now former disgraced Councillor Carol Joseph were taken into police custody to assist in the investigation of fraud unearthed at the Mahaicony/Abary Rice Development Scheme (MARDS).

This was also reported in the Guyana Chronicle on April 22, as part of an article in which Carol Joseph denied she had resigned from the PNC following her resignation as a Region 5 RDC Councillor.

It has been alleged that Carol Joseph, while serving as a Member of the MARDS Board of Directors, had three cheques fraudulently written in the name of her niece. The cheques were for amounts of $1 million, $500,000 and $200,000. A fourth cheque was believed to be issued to an employee of the Hugo Chávez Centre for Rehabilitation and Reintegration, located at Onverwagt, West Coast Berbice, a facility that Carol Joseph manages.

Abel Seetaram was also under investigation for allegedly taking $2,108,000 to repair a Government-owned SUV and a fence he had crashed into at Bath, WCB on May 8, 2016 while driving under the influence. He was then charged with dangerous driving; being an unlicensed driver; and breach of insurance. The money he allegedly misappropriated was used to repair the Agriculture Ministry vehicle and the businessman’s fence, which were both badly damaged.

Following the crash, Abel Seetaram was fired as the Region 5 Special Representative of the Prime Minister by none other than the Hon Moses Nagamootoo himself.

Incidentally, just last Saturday, Abel Seetaram was seen at a rum shop, drinking and in possession of a vehicle he was not authorised to drive — one belonging to the RDC. Someone alerted the REO, and Seetaram was instructed to return the vehicle. This AFC ‘bad boy’ was neither sanctioned nor asked to apologise to the Council for taking a vehicle without permission.

Also, I recently found out that Seetaram was put in charge of ‘enhancement’ workers at the RDC. He is responsible for supervising those workers who slash public space and roadsides. A few days ago, some of those enhancement workers were seen slashing the yard of his private residence at Number 11 Village/Woodley Park, using Government resources for private use. I wonder if this was done with the approval or knowledge of the REO, Ovid Morrison.

Readers will recall that it was Seetaram who reported to the REO that an NDIA excavator on loan to the Bath /Woodley Park NDC was being misused for private use. This had caused high drama at an RDC statutory meeting when Regional Chairman Vickchand Ramphal had called for an investigation — a suggestion that was rejected and had resulted in the walk-out by a defiant REO and APNU+AFC Councillors. But isn’t this the very same offence Seetaram had accused an NDC Councillor of committing, which had caused the disruption of the meeting and a demand for an apology from the Regional Chairman? Isn’t this hypocritical?

In the absence of information, one is likely to speculate on rumours that abound. A source close to the duo told me that Carol Joseph was desperately trying to borrow money from someone overseas to pay back MARDS. Then I also heard that the case was sent to the DPP. The way I see it, this looks like a deliberate attempt by the Government to cover up and protect themselves and their cronies from the embarrassment and humiliation of a public trial. But if this Government is really serious about ending corruption, one must ask: why aren’t these MARDS fraudsters placed before SOCU? Is there a double-standard here?

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that had it been PPP/C councillors involved in this fraud, they would have been arrested by SOCU in a dramatic manner, with full press coverage, brought before the court and convicted of a felony. But these are members of the PNC/APNU and the AFC, the Administration would not allow them to be charged by SOCU in the same way as they do those associated with the PPP/C.

In the interest of justice and the rule of law, I encourage all independent news outlets to investigate and expose this cover-up in the making, for what is good for the goose is also good for the gander!

I also wish to make public a very disturbing announcement that was made at a Heads of Department meeting held on Thursday, May 25, in the RDC Boardroom at Fort Wellington. At that meeting, Region 5 REO Ovid Morrison told the department heads that staff nurse/midwife Sherilyn Marks had committed a “serious crime, for which she will pay.” This nurse has already suffered at the hands of Carol Joseph, the RHO and the REO for doing nothing wrong. I therefore urge the entire nursing profession to strongly condemn any other action by the REO to further victimise Nurse Marks. And I also call upon Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan to do the same. The REO should be reminded that the only persons guilty of committing a serious crime are those he’s trying to protect: his loyal friend Carol Joseph who (allegedly) defrauded the taxpayers of millions of dollars’ worth of the drug Pethidine to feed her addiction, and the doctors at Fort Wellington Hospital who knowingly violated their code of conduct and professional ethics by writing prescriptions for her over a nine-year period.

These doctors, including the RHO Dr Steven Cheefoon, should all be jailed and have their medical licences revoked for professional misconduct in violation of the Laws of Guyana.

And may I add that the REO is not without sin here, for it is highly unlikely that he would not have known of Joseph’s addiction and the source of the drugs she was getting every day. After all, the Region was paying for Carol Joseph’s addiction from the budget he controls.

Harry Gill

PPP/C Member of

Parliament