Evidence sent to DPP
'A criminal act has unquestionably occurred' -Luncheon
Stabroek News
October 31, 2002
Accumulated evidence from the police and the Auditor General's Office on the old age pension books fraud has been forwarded to the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon told reporters at his weekly post-cabinet press briefing yesterday that on the basis of the DPP's advice, the court will decide on the outcome of the allegations against the three senior officers of the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security who were detained by the police last week.
However, investigations by both parties are still continuing, Dr Luncheon said that and at some point the Public Service Ministry would be involved in examining the performance and public conduct of the officers to see if they warranted disciplinary action.
He said the matter of the three senior public servants who have been named in the pension voucher fraud would be dealt with by the police "because a criminal act has unquestionably occurred."
The evidence gathered over time, he said, led the police and the relevant authorities at the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) and in the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security to suspect the involvement of the public functionaries. Last week police swooped on the ministry and escorted the officers to a police station for questioning.
Earlier this month, Minister within the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security Bibi Shaddik had noted that the probe into allegations of fraud had been intensified. Some 31 pension books had been uncovered in Region Six in the home of a former postmaster who could not be located but whose house had been under surveillance.
Subsequently the GPOC announced in a press release that 23 postal workers including postmasters and clerks, with responsibility for processing pension payments at identified post offices, were interdicted from duty for the duration of a police-led probe into alleged fraudulent payouts. The GPOC also confirmed the discovery of a large number of valid and counterfeit old age pension vouchers, a portion of which had been cashed at 15 post offices across the country.