Trade unionist and former member of the Board of Directors of Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Incorporated, Carvil Duncan was on Thursday freed of another charge of conspiracy to defraud the company after a lengthy trial in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
Duncan was facing a charge, which stated that on March 31, 2015 at Georgetown, he conspired with then Deputy Chief Executive Officer (DCEO) of GPL, Aeshwar Deonarine to steal $27,757,547, property of the power company.
He was represented by Attorneys-at-Law Glenn Hanoman and Everton Singh-Lammy.
The ruling was handed down by Magistrate Leron Daly, who stated that the prosecution’s evidence was insufficient to substantiate the charge.
According to reports, Duncan was accused of allegedly transferring close to $28
Accused: Carvil Duncan
million of the company’s funds into his personal bank account.
The revelation was made by Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson, in 2015, who had claimed that the transactions came to light as a result of a fiscal audit of the PetroCaribe fund.
The Minister had claimed that in May and June of 2015, acting with Duncan, Deonarine would have transferred $27.8 million to his own account which was supposed to be retroactive payments for salary increases.
However, he claimed that the Board of Directors for GPL did not approve the salary increase for Deonarine, who would have approached the Board several times for his salary to be increased to the same as another Deputy CEO of GPL.
Patterson revealed that Deonarine has been asked to proceed on administrative leave pending a full investigation.
Duncan, he had claimed, approved payment of $948,000 to his own account – this was also for retroactive salary payments.
In 2015, Patterson explained that Duncan would have been approached for an explanation into the expenditure, but could not provide a transparent one.
Meanwhile, after the charges were instituted, Duncan was threatened with removal from several constitutional posts he held at the time. He challenged the decision by Government to establish a tribunal to determine if he was fit to continue serving in his constitutional offices in light of several charges he was facing at the time.
However, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo had contended that he had dispatched a letter to Duncan’s office informing him of the executive’s decision to establish the tribunal.
Nagamootoo had also disclosed that the letter, as required by the Constitution of Guyana, invited Duncan to show cause why the tribunal should not be set up. Duncan subsequently testified that he never received the correspondence.
Justice Holder, in October 2016, suspended the work of the presidential tribunal following an injunction, which was filed by Attorney Anil Nandlall.
Nandlall had argued that the tribunal was an unlawful and unconstitutional course of action, since Duncan at the time was not found guilty of the charges. However, President David Granger had suspended Duncan from several constitutional posts, which included being a member of the Judicial Service Commission and the Police Service Commission.
