The Government in April had announced the establishment of a “Contract Compliance Unit” within the Ministry of Legal Affairs to tackle corruption and enforce penalties against defaulting contractors.
Attorney General and subject Minister, Anil Nandlall on Tuesday evening noted that since its establishment, “billions in liquidated damages (have been) imposed” and several major contracts were terminated due to corruption. The unit examines contractual breaches and enforces liquidation damages and other penalties.
“I can assure you that every day our Government is working on addressing corruption,” he noted during his weekly programme ‘Issues in the News.’
At the level of Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of Financing Terrorism (AML/CFT) framework, he noted that a lot of investigations are ongoing.
The AG indicated that investigations under this framework led to the exposure and subsequent charges laid against Assistant Commissioner of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) Calvin Brutus.
Brutus was charged along with his wife, Adonika Aulder, his driver Kevin George, and businessman Asif Zafarally at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court on October 24 to face a series of charges relating to financial fraud. Collectively, they were granted in excess of $10 million bail.
Nandlall disclosed that more persons will be charged in relation to the case.
“The files are being reviewed by the DPP because they are so many in numbers ,” he said.
Noting that the Government is working to amend laws and put other provisions in place to reduce corruption, he cautioned that “a corrupt transaction involves two people. If you don’t offer a bribe, the other person can’t take the bribe.”
The AG pointed to the prevalence of fraud in the private sector.
“There are a lot of irregularities taking place in the corporate environment that we are concerned about,” he noted referring to large sums of monies in local bank accounts, There are complaints of unfair advantage on minority shareholders in private companies and more.
To curb corruption and unfair practices, he noted that the government is working on a Companies Act modelled from the CARICOM legislation. Consultations will be completed soon leading to next steps,.
