SOCU charges 2 former MoH staff with money laundering

The Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) on Friday charged two former employees of Material Management Unit (MMU) Bond attached to the Ministry of Health at 1st Avenue, Diamond Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara (EBD), with three counts of Money Laundering.
Charged are Terrence Williams, 26, of Farm, EBD and Kerron Webster, 29, of Middle Street, North Cummingsburg, Georgetown. The duo were charged separately by SOCU.
Webster appeared at Georgetown Magistrate’s Court before Acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty and was not required to plea to the indictable charge.

A summary of his charge read that he ‘knowingly or having reasonable grounds to believe that the property in question whether in whole or in part directly or indirectly represents proceeds of crime, converts, transfers, or uses the property in question knowing or having reasons to believe that the said property is the proceeds of crime to conceal or disguise the illicit origin’.
He was granted $100,000 bail and will return to court on December 6.
On the other hand, Williams was slapped with two counts of Money Laundering but he did not appear in court. The matter will be called again on November 22 and December 9, 2024, respectively for charges to be read to him.
Williams is currently incarcerated at the Lusignan Prison serving a three-year sentence for possession of a firearm and ammunition which has a direct connection with the money laundering cases he is now facing.
SOCU indicated that information surfaced that Terrence Williams and Kieron Webster while being employees of the Ministry of Health’s MMU bond stole a quantity of pharmaceutical and COVID-19 testing kits from the facility.

As a result, the matter was reported to the Golden Grove Police Station, and the police contacted the duo at the said location and conducted a search. During the search, they found a .38 pistol, and several matching rounds of ammunition, along with $4,580,000 and US$5,760. Williams and Webster were arrested and Williams was subsequently charged with the offence of Possession of Firearm and Ammunition without a licence. He was found guilty and sentenced to three years imprisonment.
SOCU conducted a parallel Money Laundering investigation and a special audit was done at the Drug Bond. It was revealed that some $343,808,000 in drugs and testing kits were unaccounted for.
According to SOCU, the duo had unrestricted access to the pharmaceutical and testing kits from the bond. They misused their authority and stole a quantity of the items mentioned above which they sold and used the proceeds of the crime to enrich themselves. SOCU is currently pursuing forfeiture of the duo’s properties.