PPP/C Govt to disband SARA – VP Jagdeo

…says can’t encourage Agency to spend millions to recover $10
– stacked with “political hacks”

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has indicated the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government’s intention to disband the controversial State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA).

The Agency was established back in 2017 under the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition regime to recover stolen assets of the State.
However, at a recent press conference, Jagdeo pointed out that the body, headed by Professor Clive Thomas, is filled with political appointees.
Professor Thomas is a leader of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), one of the political parties in the APNU faction of the coalition.
Meanwhile, Deputy Director of SARA, Aubrey Heath-Retemyer was in the past quoted in the press conceding that he has a political affiliation, but did not disclose with which political party he was aligned. Further, Tacuma Ogunseye and Desmond Trotman, two longstanding leaders of the WPA, were also employed by the Agency.

To this end, Jagdeo posited: “So right now the unit has to be disbanded… We have to be advised, but right now the people who are there have not done anything and they’re incapable of doing any of this work.”
He went on to say: “We don’t want an agency that uses hundreds of millions of dollars per year to recover $10. We don’t want that; we can’t afford that as a country. It was like a sinecure unit.”
According to the Vice President, Attorney General Anil Nandlall will have to guide the Government on the way forward regarding the fate of the Agency. He said they would have to be advised on how to probe the work of SARA to date, that is, whether to call in another agency, the Police or conduct an audit.
The State Assets Recovery Act 2017 was passed in the National Assembly on April 13, 2017. It empowers the tracing and identification of property, whether in Guyana or in a foreign state or territory, suspected to be state property, obtained, or derived directly or indirectly from unlawful conduct involving a public official or any other person.
However, the PPP/C while in Opposition had always contended that the Agency was being used for political hacks. In fact, there have also been criticisms about the super salaries the Agency staff were receiving and to date, they have not recovered any State asset.
Moreover, Jagdeo, as Opposition Leader, had also questioned the legal status of the Director and Deputy Director of SARA.
He had argued that the SARA Act provides very clearly that their appointments shall be made through a parliamentary process. Since the Act came into force in 2017, that process was never activated.
Professor Thomas was hired before the SARA Act came into force and while there was a transition provision in the legislation that allowed the Director to continue to act in that office for a limited period, that period had long expired without the appointment being properly made in accordance with the Act.
Meanwhile, SARA had stated publicly that it was working on some high-profile cases, with recoveries above US$10 million and these cases would be filed by the third quarter of 2018, but they were not. Instead, the Agency went ahead in March 2019, to file a lawsuit against Jagdeo over the purchase of lands at “Pradoville 2” located at Sparendaam, East Coast Demerara.
Describing the move as silly and politically motivated, Jagdeo had said that SARA was just another way for the then coalition Government to secure employment for retired citizens and waste money.
In September 2019, SARA sought $274.1 million, plus interest, from the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) in connection with the acquisition of land at the Kingston Seawall, where the financial institution built its main office.
SARA alleged that when the bank bid for and acquired the right to purchase the land, it was the fourth highest of 14 bids. SARA claimed that GBTI’s purchase price of $224 million was less than the most recent valuation of the property.
But, GBTI hit back against the Agency, saying that it was using the law as intimidation and vowed to vigorously defend itself in court.
According to GBTI, these allegations were baseless and designed to attack the Bank. Moreover, it had stated that SARA’s reliance on the State Assets Recovery Act of 2017 appears to be geared at intimidation.
The Bank has been serving Guyana for over 180 years and is regarded as one of the most trusted and loyal banks in the country.