– Party considering options for redress
State Assets Recovery Unit (SARU) Executive Member Eric Phillips has come under fire from the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), with the Party contending that a recent statement he made constituted a “threat” against the lives of former President Bharrat Jagdeo and other top Opposition officials and their families.
In the statement that started it all, Phillips warned Jagdeo to be careful because if anyone in his family or a family member of a SARU or Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) employee was killed, attacked or put at risk, “he (Jagdeo) needs to understand that he, his Cabinet and their families (bar none) will be at the same risk”.
The ominous statement, which Phillips posted publicly on social media on March 10, went on to warn that “the only difference is that the response will be significantly disproportionate and very cruel”.
In its response to the Government official’s statement, the PPP observed that the “irrational publication has placed the lives of every former PPP Cabinet member and every current PPP parliamentarian and their respective families in jeopardy”.
The parliamentary Opposition made it clear it was taking the threat “most seriously”. The Party also revealed that it was considering “a number of courses of action, upon which it will embark to address it”.
These options, the Party added, will be revealed in due course.
Phillips had claimed in the statement that the former President was trying to put his life at risk by “constantly repeating my name on TV in Berbice that I am the intellectual henchman for SOCU, because they were picked up this week and questioned on misfeasance and conspiracy to steal State assets”.
According to Phillips, the PPP General Secretary has been telling constituents that Phillips is from the African Cultural Development Association (ACDA) “so I am after Indians”. In fact, Phillips has history with ACDA, serving as an Executive Member. He was also appointed as Chairman of Guyana’s Reparations Committee by former President Donald Ramotar.
SARU is tasked with carrying out investigations into claims of corruption involving Guyana’s State assets. At its head is Professor Clive Thomas.
Phillips’ utterances come just days after former President Jagdeo and former Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, were arrested and taken to SOCU’s headquarters for questioning. Calling the move an attempt to instil fear in the Opposition, Jagdeo had vowed afterwards that the Party would not be intimidated into silence, in the face of poor governance.
