Jagdeo calls for probe into ‘wine sipping’ celebration

One week after Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan and top officials of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) congregated at a popular city café after hauling in several prominent former Government officials for questioning, including former President Bharrat Jagdeo, the now Opposition Leader is calling for an investigation to be launched into the “celebration”.

Speaking at the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) weekly press conference on

Tuesday, Jagdeo questioned the motive behind the gathering, noting that “to drink wine immediately after arrests were made warrants a full-fledged investigation”.

According to the Opposition Leader, given that the coalition Government has launched several Commissions of Inquiry, President David Granger should do the same with regard to this matter since it threatened the country’s independence and dignity.

“I would like to urge… that an investigation takes place at high level. If we had an independent office that deals with integrity of Ministers, then that would have been investigated already,” he asserted.

Last Wednesday, SOCU Head Sydney James; British Adviser to SOCU, Dr Sam Sittlington and Minister Ramjattan were seen clinking glasses in an extremely celebratory atmosphere in the dimly lit café.

In fact, former Attorney General Anil Nandlall, in a statement on Thursday, questioned recent comments made by Dr Sittlington, including whether or not he was operating under the auspices of the British High Commission in Guyana and his role in SOCU.

Nandlall said, “I note that Mr Sam Sittlington has taken the liberty of making statements which have political underpinnings, and seems to be functioning as part of the operations of SOCU.”

But British High Commissioner Greg Quinn, in a statement on Friday, claimed that Dr Sittlington was “at SOCU in an advisory and training capacity and not in an operational role”.

According to Quinn, Dr Sittlington was merely trying to explain to reporters the legal basis and rights under which SOCU took the actions they did. Furthermore, the British High Commissioner claimed that none of the High Commission’s staff were at the café on Wednesday evening, as believed.

However, in a rebuttual statement on Friday, the former Attorney General disclosed that his information revealed otherwise.

“I have consulted with my source, who was present at Oasis Café on Wednesday, 10th of March 2017, and who reiterates that, His Excellency, Mr Quinn, himself and two other staff members of the British High Commission, were present at the establishment,” Nandlall claimed.

Exceeding official remit

Moreover, he posited that based on what he was told by his clients, who were subjects of SOCU’s investigations, and what he personally observed on the first day of the arrests last week, it was easy to conclude that Dr Sittlington may have “exceeded his official remit and trespassed into operational matters at SOCU”.

At the PPP press conference on Tuesday, Jagdeo said he trusted the information related by Nandlall, while adding that he himself would have been told about the British expert’s involvement in the operations of SOCU.

“I have information that Mr Sittlington have been on raids with SOCU; he has gone into the premises of nationals of Guyana as part of these raids – being part of operations themselves. So if the British High Commissioner is saying that he has no operational mandate as part of his job, then he will be open (to an investigation)… We have a foreigner here who is trespassing on the rights of Guyanese citizens, tolerated by our Government,” the Opposition Leader noted.

This ‘wine sipping’ celebration came on the heels of resounding cries that the Executive has been giving orders to SOCU to attack former Government officials as part of its witch-hunting exercise, which the Government has denied.

However, the Opposition Leader surmised that it would be easy to determine this

“It is easy to find out. If the President wants to do and from what we talked about at State House it seems as though he is inclined to go this route, it’s easy to find out where the political instructions to effect the arrests came from,” Jagdeo posited, hinting that it may have been a meeting between “some ministers and some individuals in the (Guyana) Police Force.”

The Public Security Minister had explain that the ‘wine sipping’ event was a farewell for Dr Sittlington, and he would be advocating for his return. “The fact that I had some wine with Sam on Wednesday evening at Oasis was because I wanted to thank him for the great work he did at SOCU at his farewell function. He left the next day. I certainly will plead his return to High Commissioner Mr Greg Quinn,” Ramjattan posited.