Guyanese need answers on the role of Sittlington in Guyana

Dear Editor,
Government’s Advisor Sam Sittlington continues to cement himself in operational matters of the Special Organised Crimes Unit (SOCU). Isn’t it about time that the British High Commissioner comes clean on Sittlington’s role with SOCU? Is he an advisor? Or is he more involved? Are the British taxpayers aware of what their monies are being spent on?
Editor, it has been over a year since concerns were publicised about a Government Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan, engaging Sittlington. It was the Minister who let the ‘cat out of the bag’ anyways. He had said, according to the report, that: “The fact (is) that I had some wine with Sam on Wednesday evening (March 8,2017) at Oasis was because I wanted to thank him for the great work he did at SOCU.” This ‘wine-drinking’ happened days after top leaders of the former Government were hauled into SOCU.
By now most Guyanese are clear on what the role of SOCU was supposed to be, most Guyanese except those in this current coalition Government, which is strange because it is as if they forgot what they said only four years ago. As a former Leader of the Opposition, David Granger, at a press conference on October 11, 2014, acknowledged that SOCU was assigned “as the investigative arm of the FIU.” Another Cabinet Minister, Carl Greenidge (former Shadow Finance Minister), also in 2014 said: “The FIU, after receiving that report (from its reporting institutions), will now send it off to the SOCU which will operate as its investigative arm.” Editor, many people seemed to have forgotten not only this, but also the questions about what SOCU has been turned into, especially after Guyanese read reports of the deaths of a Guyana Defence Force rank, Robert Pyle and his wife, Stacy Pyle, as well as a truck driver, Linden Eastman, on December 30, 2015. The Guyana Defence Force said the deaths occurred during a legitimate operation in which the Force was supporting the work of SOCU. What work remains the question. Coming back to present happenings – with the controversy surrounding shift in the work of SOCU from the purpose it was set up for, the questionable operations of the Unit under this new Government and the personalities involved – Guyanese need answers on the role of Sittlington in Guyana.
What do we know about Sittlington? Other than he was a Police Officer in Ireland, has a company, ‘The Fraud Company, Ltd’ and that he has worked in other third world countries. Is Sittlington the latest ‘consultant/advisor’ using Guyana to bolster his resume? The truth is also that the ambitions of personalities like Sittlington seem to find a happy synergy with the goals of the new APNU/AFC coalition Government – it fits what we heard on the campaign trail about jailing former Government officials. For example, only days ago the newspapers reported that the Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Basil Williams berated SOCU and the FIU over their inability to secure convictions. But, as I said earlier, most Guyanese are clear on what the role of SOCU was supposed to be.
Because Guyanese know what the role of SOCU is supposed to be, the British High Commissioner must say what exactly is the nature work being done by Sittlington and the Government must justify the current operations of SOCU, particularly since Guyana will be reviewed by CFATF soon and the work of SOCU is linked to that review, with the mandate of SOCU being to support the Financial Intelligence Unit to tackle money laundering.

Sincerely,
Cedric Lord