Guyana grilled at UN Human Rights Committee about witness protection, State Assets Recovery, corruption allegations against Jagdeo

Last Updated on Tuesday, 19 March 2024, 10:43 by Denis Chabrol

The Guyana government has told the United Nations Committee on Human Rights that it could not implement Public Disclosure and Whistleblowers laws because the country was not prepared to do so.

“We are unable to, at this point, to activate the Public Disclosure and Whistleblower Act because there are genuine problems of implementation,” Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira told the committee.

She, however, said witnesses are offered “safe haven” protection by police.

With regards to the implementation of the now repealed State Assets Recovery Act (SARA) following the closure of the agency in 2020, Ms Teixeira said that “monolithic” body “had to be repaired” because its Head could have become the Chief Immigration Officer, Police Commissioner, Director of Public Prosecutions among others.

Instead, she said government was relying on the Guyana Police Force’s Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Director of Public Prosecutions through strengthening of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of Financing Terrorism Act (AML/CFT) “to have a modern confiscation framework inclusive of an asset recovery fund as well as asset sharing arrangements domestically and internationally.” The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance said an AML/CFT amendment in 2023 provides for civil forfeiture. She said a number of assets had been confiscated under the new legislative regime.

On the issue of no investigation into alleged corruption by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, the Governance Minister said no one had lodged a police complaint about the claims that had been made in a US Vice News report. “There is no follow-up on it because there was no police report made by Vice News or anybody else and so the police cannot investigate without some form of report or complaint,” she told the UN Human Rights Committee, adding that Mr Jagdeo had publicly responded to those allegations in media that had  carried the issue.

The opposition A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) had made a unsuccessful bid to debate a motion in the National Assembly that had called for Mr Jagdeo’s resignation to clear the way for an “independent, credible and impartial” investigation by international investigators. into alleged bribery, corruption and money laundering.

On the question of failure by the judiciary to investigate allegations of corruption, she said the Judicial Services Commission had received no reports but there had been dissatisfaction especially by persons who lose cases.