…says billions in liquidated damages imposed
The Guyana Government had announced in April that a “Contract Compliance Unit” has been established within the Legal Affairs Ministry. Its duty is to tackle corruption and enforce penalties against defaulting contractors as it examines contractual breaches and enforces liquidated damages and other penalties.
Attorney General Anil Nandlall said on Tuesday evening that since its establishment, “billions in liquidated damages (have been) imposed”, and several major contracts have been terminated due to corruption.
“I can assure you that, every day, our government is working on addressing corruption,” he declared during his weekly programme of ‘Issues in the News.’
The AG also noted that a lot of investigations are ongoing at the level of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) framework. He indicated that investigations under this framework have led to the exposure and subsequent laying of charges against Assistant Force Commissioner Calvin Brutus.
Brutus has been arraigned, along with his wife Adonika Aulder, his driver Kevin George, and businessman Asif Zafarally, in a Georgetown Magistrate’s Court on October 24 on a series of charges relating to financial fraud. These defendants have all been placed on bail in an accumulative sum that exceeds $10 million.
Nandlall has disclosed that more persons would be charged in relation to these cases.
“The files are being reviewed by the DPP because they are so many in number,” he said. Noting that Government is working to amend laws and put other provisions in place to reduce corruption, he thus cautioned, “A corrupt transaction involves two people. If you don’t offer a bribe, the other person can’t take the bribe.”
Pointing to the prevalence of fraud in the private sector, the AG said, “There are a lot of irregularities taking place in the corporate environment that we are concerned about.”
Referring to large sums of money in local bank accounts owned by certain operatives in the private sector, he said there are complaints of unfair advantage being taken on minority shareholders in private companies, and many allegations of a similar nature exist.
He noted that, in order to curb corruption and unfair practices, Government is working on a Companies Act modelled after the Caricom legislation. And he said consultations in this regard would soon be completed, leading to next steps.
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