There is an interesting development unravelling in Guyana that should be of interest to Barbadians. It surrounds Assistant Commissioner of Police Calvin Brutus. Why is the story interesting? Have you ever wondered why top officials in Barbados are never investigated or incarcerated for white collar crime? Is it that local elected and appointed officials are wired to engage only in puritanical behaviour?
The arrest of former Minister Donville Inniss for a white collar crime initiated in Barbados but prosecuted in the US jurisdiction gave an indication of how business is done in Barbados. Although most on the rock accept and participate in the ‘bobble’ culture, there has never been anyone of prominence prosecuted.
The blogmaster has questioned the integrity of the Police Complaints Authority and the Disciplinary Committee to name two for example. We have a single incident of a policeman caught on camera slapping a citizen and it is north of 80 days since our introverted Commissioner of Police promised to investigate and take action. What is the purpose of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) a government agency responsible for receiving, analyzing, and disseminating reports of suspicious financial activity? The blogmaster was curious how the Leroy Parris matter regarding the 3.3 million payment would have been addressed by local authorities BUT unsurprisingly it has followed the normal script. The last anyone heard the matter, it continues to be ‘stuck’ in the court system. The late Errol Barrow warned us about staying out of White Park formerly Coleridge Street.
The blogmaster is sure there are high-ranking officials in Barbados who are engaged in corrupt and criminal activity BUT our ‘system’ is manipulated to ignore pursuing such matters. The blogmaster is also sure the recent establishment of a National Advisory Council on Citizen Security is a PR to appease concerns about rising violent crime in the country.
Read the following story copied from Caribbean Life.
Guyana police scandal
The second highest-ranking officer in the Guyana Police Force has been charged with 240 fraud charges related to allegedly abusing his office as the force’s chief administrator to acquire nearly $5 million in cash and assets through a series of recently established procurement companies that had placed him in prime position to be the main procurer of supplies to the force, among other complaints.
Calvin Brutus, who has been acting as the senior deputy police chief for more than a year, is at the center of a soap opera-style saga that has set the Caribbean Community nation alight with discussions about the level of corruption in officialdom, the absence of proper monitoring systems, and how the force is normally used by top officers before they retire, at age 55, to make millions and then ‘ride into the sunset’ as happy men and women.
Brutus is the highest-ranking police officer ever to be indicted and charged with a felony crime in living memory. The cabinet has said he will be made an example if found guilty.
On Thursday, Brutus, his wife Adonika Aulder, his driver, Sergeant Kevin George, and businessman Asif Zafarally, 34, were paraded before a city magistrate. They were charged with a range of financial offenses, from money laundering to obtaining money by pretense, misconduct in public office, liability of officials, and larceny by public officials.
They were all placed on bail. The magistrate read only 30 of the 240 charges investigators say they have for the four. She set Nov. 18 for another court hearing, at which the magistrate will read another batch of charges to the group.
Investigators at the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) say the systems in place all went wrong when Brutus allegedly tried to deposit nearly $85,000 into his account at the force’s credit union at the end of last year, to the consternation of staff, who later returned it for breach of union rules.
Once a probe of this event had started, investigators later discovered that Brutus had allegedly accepted large amounts of cash from business associates. He claimed in official filing documents that these were gifts “before, during, and after” his wedding to Aulder at the trendy, high-brow Pegasus Suites a year ago. SOCU also has evidence that the former number two top cop had not collected his monthly salary of about $2,500 for nearly four years.
But the heart of the allegations against him also relates to accusations that he had instructed a finance unit officer to issue checks of $70,000 from a special account for goods to the force, knowing that these were never supplied or delivered. Additionally, they claim that he had ordered that a check for $300,000 be cashed for repairs and maintenance of police buildings, knowing that no work was started or completed.
Police have since frozen several commercial bank accounts belonging to Brutus, his wife, driver, and toddler son while they investigate the situation further.
The deputy commissioner has told reporters, “I intend to vigorously defend these matters because there is clear evidence that what is happening is a matter of manipulation of evidence, fabrication of evidence just to make out a case against me and myself, and the team will defend all the allegations that are made, and we are certain that we will be victorious. There is a background to it and it will come out in the constitutional case. All those details will come out very soon,” he said as heavily armed SWAT police teams descended on his police headquarters apartment to arrest him last Thursday.
The case has been a main topic of discussion for most social groups here, as rumors and reports of abuse of procurement and other systems in Guyana’s military and paramilitary are common knowledge.
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.