Retired Assistant Commissioner, 3 others charged with multi-million-dollar theft at GPF

Retired Assistant Commissioner Kevin Adonis and three other serving members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) were on Friday slapped with a $19 million larceny charge.
They were accused of stealing the aforementioned sum from the Force’s Finance Department, Eve Leary, Georgetown.

The men, who were arraigned before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, were not required to plead to the indictment.
Apart from Adonis of Stewartville, West Coast Demerara (WCD); the others charged were Sergeant Jermaine Fraser of 4116 Phase One Westminster, West Bank Demerara (WBD); Sergeant Michael Corbin of First Avenue, La Parfaite Harmonie, WBD, and Corporal Rawl Haynes of Hydronie, East Bank Essequibo (EBE).
Particulars of the first charge stated that between March 26, 2019, and March 29, 2019, at Georgetown, Adonis, Fraser, Corbin, and Haynes conspired with each other and persons unknown while being public officers employed by GPF to steal $19,030,767.

It is alleged that Corbin on March 26, 2019, at GPF’s Finance Office, input electronic data, that is to say, a payment voucher entry for $19,030,767, resulting in inauthentic data, with the intent that it be considered or acted upon by the Finance Ministry Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) staff as if it was authentic, regardless of whether or not the said data was directly readable or intelligible.
According to the final charge, Haynes on March 29, 2019, at Georgetown, while being a public officer employed by the Guyana Police Force, stole 19,030,767. On the first charge, the ranks were instructed to post $150,000 bail each. Corbin was released on $100,000 bail on the computer-related fraud charge, while Haynes was granted $50,000 bail on the last charge.
Adonis was represented by Attorney-at-Law Mark Waldron, while Attorney-at-Law Patrice Henry appeared for Corbin. Attorney-at-Law Dexter Todd is appearing on behalf of Haynes while Attorney-at-Law Latchmie Rahamat is representing Fraser. Attorney-at-Law Leslyn Noble appeared on behalf of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) which filed the charges.

They will make their next court appearance on April 12, 2021.
Corbin and Fraser are presently interdicted from duty. They were stationed at the Votes Section of the Police Finance Office. Haynes is stationed at the Tactical Service Unit, while Adonis is a retired Assistant Commissioner and was the Commander for Regional Division No 7.
It was reported that in March 2019, while performing duties at the Votes Section of the Police Finance Office, Headquarters, Eve Leary, Corbin and Fraser were responsible for inputting approved information from payment vouchers in the IFMIS which resulted in the Finance Ministry cutting cheques.
On March 26, 2019, Corbin reused a payment voucher with supporting documents for fuel purchased from GuyOil to input information in the IFMIS. Fraser, on the other hand, approved the said information, resulting in cheque # 07-220086 for $19,030,767 being made payable to the Officer in Charge of Police F Division. The cheque was uplifted from the Finance Ministry and lodged at the Police Finance Office.

Adonis endorsed the said cheque and Haynes, who was not authorised or the finance representative for Police F Division, encashed the cheque at the Bank of Guyana using Adonis’ national identification card. No records were made of the cheque or whom the money was disbursed to at F Division. An audit was conducted by the Auditor General, who recommended a Police probe. Following investigations, charges were laid against Adonis, Fraser, Corbin, and Haynes.
Last year, Fraser and Corbin were charged with a similar offence. At that time, they were each released on $250,000 bail. The charge against them stated that on April 4, 2019, at Eve Leary, Georgetown, while being a clerk or servant of the GPF, they falsely entered $12,565,000 into the IFMIS without the existence of payment vouchers. Both of them had pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Late last year, several senior officers were sent on administrative leave as investigators probed the alleged misappropriation of $150 million from the Police Force’s Finance Department. It is unclear, at this time, what is the status of those investigations.