Dr Shamir Ally, the fraud accused Guyana Ambassador to Kuwait, has been confirmed again as a Member of the Board of Directors at the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest).
The information has since been officially gazetted.
According to the Government notice, Cabinet considered the memorandum submitted by the Business Minister and have since approved the appointment of the Board of Directors for a period of two years, effective January 1, 2016.
The other approved Board members are Patricia Bacchus as Chairperson, Basil Blackman and Durwin Humphrey, along with representatives from the Private Sector Commission, the Guyana Revenue Authority, two Government Ministries and a representative of the political Opposition.
Dr Ally is a key member of the Alliance For Change (AFC), who recently came to prominence when it was discovered that he was charged for financial crimes by the United States Securities Exchange Council (SEC) and had instead opted for a plea arrangement in an out of court settlement.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry had launched an investigation into the veracity and gravity of the charges against Guyana’s Ambassador to Kuwait, but there has been no formal pronouncement on the matter by Government.
The AFC came out in support of its key supporter and had issued a missive in his defence, saying while he was charged and required to pay a penalty by the SEC, he was not convicted of a crime.
Dr Ally and his co-accused copped an out-of-court plea deal with the SEC to pay fines ranging from US$10,000 to US$50,000.
He was charged in 2002 by the Commission for “the dissemination of false financial information” using his company, Acrodyne.
The Guyana diplomat and others were said to be “aware of numerous and significant problems with Acrodyne’s accounting controls, but failed to assure that Acrodyne’s financial transactions were accurately recorded.”
According to the AFC’s statement, Dr Ally was charged jointly with two other senior executives of Acrodyne, but “instead of proceeding with a long and costly trial, the three professionals were strongly advised by that company’s Attorney-at-Law, Mr Steven Thomas, to make a deal with the SEC to pay fines without admission of guilt.”
This was done, but Dr Ally, in denying culpability, said the financial practices for which he was charged were in place when he started working at the company.
Dr Ally was fired from Acrodyne in July 2000, circumstances he blamed on a “power struggle, falling revenue/income and a depleting labour force” in the company.
He was later charged along with two other Acrodyne executives, including its President in May 2002, by the SEC with civil action.
Dr Ally, in seeking to provide an explanation, said Acrodyne used to prepare quarterly financial reports “based on some actual and some estimated figures”.
He said the company would at the end of the year do an annual stock taking and these reports would be audited and sent to the SEC.
He maintains that this system of preparing records based in part on estimates “was Standard Operating Procedure at Acrodyne”.
In March 2003, the SEC had ordered Acrodyne to cease and desist from future violations of the anti-fraud, periodic reporting, and books and records provisions of the exchange.
