– granted $1M bail
Two former members of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) were on Friday arraigned on over 34 fraud-related charges and alleged misappropriation of in excess of $8.5 million of the company’s monies when they were brought to the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan.
The former General Manager, Jagnarine Singh; and former Deputy General Manager, Madanlall Ramraj were jointly charged, along with the former GRDB Accountant, Peter Ramcharran.
Ramcharran was not present as he resides in Canada and an arrest warrant has been issued for him.
The duo was not required to plead to the indictable charge which stated that between 2011 and 2012, the former employees on 17 occasions, failed to make proper entries into the company’s register and between the same period, they, with intent to defraud, omitted or concurred to be omitted $8.5 million from the general ledger of the GRDB knowing same to be against the organisation’s operating procedures.
The court also heard that for the same period, the three accused fraudulently took or applied for the monies for their own use or benefit or any use or purpose for the GRDB.
Seventeen other fraudulent misappropriation charges were read to the two accused, all being indictable.
Attorney Glenn Hanoman, who is representing the duo, requested leniency with the bail amount since he reminded the court that the two along with other former GRDB employees were charged with a similar offence earlier this year.
Bail was granted in the sum of $1 million and the accused are expected to return to court on November 16.
In the other case where the duo and four others were charged in the early part of 2017, it had been reported that false and misleading statements were being sent to the Governments of Guyana and Venezuela by the former General Manager of the GRDB in order to obtain monies from the PetroCaribe Fund.
The Fund was established almost a decade ago when Venezuela introduced an oil sale arrangement wherein Guyana and a number of CARICOM and Latin America countries took oil at concessionary rates, paid a percentage in advance and protracted payment of the balance over a 20-year period. The PetroCaribe Fund was supposed to hold millions of US dollars.
Inconsistencies in this Fund were just one of several financial irregularities highlighted by Nigel Hinds Financial Services in the forensic audit it had done for the period 2011 to 2015.
Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman had noted that, based on the audit report, millions of dollars had passed through the accounting unit of the GRDB. He highlighted that the “glaring” financial irregularities uncovered by the auditors had “no traceable signs that (they) were ever approved”.
The other former GRDB employees facing the same charge are People’s Progressive Party Members of Parliament, Dharamkumar Seeraj and Nigel Dharamlall, Board member Badrie Persaud and former Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Agriculture Ministry, Prema Roopnarine.
