SOCU’s capacity further strengthened – Ramjattan

…maintains Govt’s non-interference in the agency

By Lakhram Bhagirat

Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan on Friday told reporters that the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) now has tremendous capacities since it is equipped with financial analysts, qualified accountants and better investigative capabilities.
He made the comment while responding to questions about the investigative capacity of the agency.
“SOCU is a professional organisation and is an organisation that has tremendous capacities now with financial analysts and people who are qualified accountants. It is my view that they would look for guidance from the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) if she ask that they give some more statements or take some more documentary evidence,” he said.
When asked about possible interference by Government officials, Ramjattan maintained that the organisation was a professional one and the only Government agency that would issue directives to SOCU is the office of the DPP.
“They obviously have to do that (seek advice from the DPP) and it should not be regarded as interference. That is when a lawyer is telling you something you have to do and so I don’t think they will take directions, but they will take the directions of the DPP because she (Shalimar Ali-Hack) is the Director of Public Prosecutions,” Ramjattan said.
Just last month, DPP Ali-Hack said that SOCU needed to focus on quality investigations. The statement came in the form of a Letter to the Editor to respond to an article in the Kaieteur News in relation to the Guyana Rice Development Board probe.
“SOCU needs to focus on doing quality investigations before sending files to these Chambers for legal advice because charges are based on evidence and not wild recommendations,” the letter from the DPP Chambers said.
The article in question in the newspaper suggested the DPP may be dragging her feet on the issue. ““The DPP is not facing any major dilemma in this matter. This file will be treated like all other files and advice will be given based on the evidence contained in the file and the relevant law thereto as is done in all files. The DPP has a constitutional mandate under which the work is done at the office,” the letter stated.
Meanwhile, on Friday at his post-Cabinet press briefing, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon defended SOCU’s work, saying that the coalition Government has given SOCU the capacity to tackle organised crime, with the allocation of the necessary resources, training, and exposure to international best practices and advice.
“We are improving the competence and capacity of SOCU and in a lot of their investigations that are going on. It is not just that SOCU is not doing a good job, SOCU is gathering information and If ,in fact, the persons who have the legal eye to see what it is that would stand up in court, allow it to go through, how could you blame the investigators?” Harmon asked.
He said that the investigators were doing their work, which they were trained to do, that is, to provide information. However, he noted that it was the task of the legal luminaries, who also determine whether the matters should proceed to the courts or not, to identify the deficiencies and advise accordingly.
“SOCU has been complaining about it too that there are so many matters that they are finished investigating and it is not coming to the court as yet, but we have to be patient because a number of these things require careful investigation,” he added.
Harmon said that SOCU would be getting additional international assistance to ensure that the cases could withstand cross-examination in the courts and allow the Judges or Magistrates to make judgments based on the evidence.
“As you know, the magistracy, the judiciary, they are independent. We do not tell them what judgement they should give, what we do is present the evidence in court and ask that they look at it impartially and neutrally,” Harmon stated.
SOCU was established in 2014 on the recommendation of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) and was intended to be a Police unit operating under the authority of the Police Commissioner but with a close relationship to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
Head of the Presidential Secretariat at the time, Dr Roger Luncheon, had disclosed that SOCU was tasked with investigating suspected financial transactions suggestive of money laundering and financing of terrorism.