Former GRDB accountant slapped with 39 fraud charges

Former Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) accountant Peter Ramcharran was slapped with 39 counts of fraud and remanded to prison on Wednesday.
Ramcharran was hauled in by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), following his extradition from Canada. He arrived in the country early Wednesday and was taken to SOCU headquarters.

Ramcharran, 39, of Goedverwagting, East Coast Demerara, later appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts to answer charges for the alleged falsification of GRDB accounts from 2011 to 2015.
The first five charges alleged that between the years 2011 and 2015, Ramcharran, while being the accountant of the GRDB, omitted to enter some $414 million in the GRDB ledger.
He was also slapped with 17 charges for allegedly colluding with former General Manager and Deputy General Manager of the GRDB, Jagnarine Singh and Madanlall Ramraj for omitting entries in the entity’s ledger.
The court heard that an arrest warrant was issued for Ramcharran since 2017 after he was contacted on June 5, 2017 via Facebook and WhatsApp.
SOCU’s Head Sydney James had testified that he had contacted Ramcharran and disclosed that he told him that he was fearful to return to Guyana.
An arrest warrant was then issued. But Ramcharran sought legal counsel and attempted to fight his extradition. He was unsuccessful when a Canadian court had denied an application.
His attorney, Sase Gunraj said he was disappointed with the outcome of the matter, and has alleged that SOCU Head James lied to the court to get an arrest warrant for his client.
Gunraj said his client has denied that James contacted him on May 31, 2018 to inform him of a court hearing on June 1.
“He (James) said he made those contacts via WhatsApp and Facebook messenger. Those social media platforms have a method of confirmation of delivery. None of that was demonstrated in this honourable court and yet an arrest warrant was issued on the word of James,” the lawyer explained.
Gunraj said this formed the basis for certain steps to be taken in Canada regarding the arrest of Ramcharran, who he claimed executed his legal right to challenge his extradition.
“But it seems as though he is being penalised for exercising the legal options that were available to him by law,” Gunraj stated, calling it a double standard.
Gunraj drew a nexus between his case and that of the Government, which said it has the right to explore all legal options concerning the no-confidence case. He noted that that avenue was being afforded to it.
“Yet when my client Ramcharran exercised his right to use the legal options available to him in Canada…, that is being held against him,” he argued.
Of the 39 charges, the Attorney said they included failure to account into a general ledger. He also pointed out that there were matters of a similar nature engaging the courts.
According to the lawyer, based on his assessment, there has been “an abject failure by the prosecution to prove those matters.
“With the absence of the person at SOCU who has had questionable qualifications, I wish them very good luck in prosecuting that case,” he added.
Ramcharran was remanded to prison by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan. His next court date is March 25, 2019.
A forensic audit of the GRDB revealed some “anomalies” including loans without proper paperwork or promissory notes. Six former officials, who were part of the Board, were later charged and released in relation to the same matters.
The officials charged are: Singh; Ramraj; Rice Producers Association (RPA) General Secretary Dharamkumar Seeraj; former Amerindian Affairs Ministry Permanent Secretary Nigel Dharamlall, who was a member of the GRDB Board; former Guyana Oil Company General Manager Badrie Persaud and Agriculture Ministry Deputy Permanent Secretary (Finance) Prema Roopnarine.
It is alleged that between 2011 and 2012, Singh and Ramraj omitted to enter, or to make true entries of, over $4.2 million in the company’s ledger, knowing that it was contrary to standard operational procedures.
They face 17 other charges, which alleged that during the same time frame, they fraudulently took $5.1 million or applied the money for their own use and benefit or any use and purpose.