No charges one year after $14M pension scam
Stabroek News
December 1, 2003
More than a year has passed since the police began investigating the $14M Old Age Pension scam and even though some of the interdicted workers got back their jobs no one has actually been charged for the crime.
Earlier this year the Guyana Post Office Corpora-tion (GPOC) had dismissed thirteen of the workers and reinstated 14 others who were ensnared in the fraud which involved the printing and cashing of fake Old Age Pension vouchers by a network of officers from the Ministry of Human Services and GPOC.
On Friday, a senior police officer could not say whether investigations would conclude by the end of the year. However, Stabroek News was told that the investigation has been proceeding at a slow pace due to delays with regard to witnesses.
The 13 dismissed postal workers along with three social workers from the Ministry of Human Services were initially required to report on a daily basis to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
This is no longer being done according to reports and as far as some of the interdicted officers are concerned the investigation is over.
Several questions have arisen as to why the police have been unable to lay charges against the dismissed officers, as it is evident that their part in the fraud was significant enough for the GPOC to terminate their services. Moreover, these workers also confessed that they had stolen the money. The police had reported earlier that those officers implicated in the fraud were relieved of all travel documents. However, with regards to the dismissed officers in the Human Services Ministry, Stabroek News understands they have been able to secure employment elsewhere.
Around $3.1M of the $14M which was stolen has been repaid by six of the fourteen postal workers who were dismissed and later reinstated.
Noel Phillips, Postmaster General of the GPOC, when asked why the corporation had allowed the officers to repay the money and be reinstated, had said, "it was not just a matter of repaying the money and getting back the job; there have been sanctions which were imposed on them."
He said had it not been for the reinstated officers the GPOC would not have been able to conclude its investigations into the matter.
He pointed out that the officers were forthright with the investigating team which he had headed. (Nigel Williams)