… released on 0,000 bail each
… lawyers argue politically inspired charges, lack of evidence
Six former members of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) were on Friday charged with fraudulent omission. The charge came one day after they had been summoned by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) for questioning in relation to the operations of the GRDB between the years 2011 and 2015.
People’s Progressive Party Members of Parliament Dharamkumar Seeraj and Nigel Dharamlall; former Deputy General Manager of GRDB, Ricky Ramraj; former GRDB General Manager Jagnarine Singh; former GRDB Board member Badrie Persaud; and former Deputy Permanent Secretary (Finance) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Prema Roopnarine, appeared on Friday before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts to answer a string of charges to which they were not required to plead.
The first charge they face allege that, in 2011, the defendants omitted to enter some $52 million in the GRDB ledger; while the second charge stated that the then board members omitted to enter a sum of $77.3 million into the said ledger.Other charges read that between the years 2014 and 2015, the sums of $130 million, $9.7 million and $145 million were respectively omitted from the GRDB register.
The former members of the GRDB were flanked by executive members of the PPP/C, who flooded the courtroom in support of their comrades. They were represented by a team of attorneys comprising Priya Manickchand, Anil Nandlall, Sase Gunraj and Glenn Hanoman.
The defendants were each placed on $500,000 bail by the Chief Magistrate, who cast a deaf ear to the pleas of the lawyers to have their clients released on their own recognizance.
Politics
Speaking to media operatives following the proceedings, Nandlall contended that the charges should not have been instituted because there allegedly is no evidence to support them.
He questioned why only five persons were selected from a 16-member board and charged.
And Opposition Parliamentarian and Attorney-at-law, Priya Manickchand, deemed the charges “politically inspired” by the APNU/AFC government in efforts to shut down the Opposition and distract the country from Government’s failed policies and mismanagement.
