Dear Editor,
I wonder if persons realize the implications of the recent Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) press release on the dismissal and charging of three senior New Building Society managers, who have now been freed of all charges, especially as everyone knows that the GHRA would have carefully confirmed all information before the release. Media reports on the matter also speak for themselves. I am sure everyone knows by now that these men were charged and fired; the court matter was delayed, and the Board of NBS withheld monies due to the men, including pensions. People should ponder over the entire statement of the GHRA especially the following:
– The dropping of charges brings an end to the disgraceful saga in which the careers of the three men have been destroyed.
– Passing the PI among four magistrates for over four years as a result of prosecution delays must surely constitute something of a record, prompting questions over the real foundation for this case.
– Magistrate Fazil Azeez was reported as having written twice to the DPP, seeking that she withdraw the third charge against Kent Vincent and Kissoon Baldeo, but received no response and was reported as stating “For whatever reason they still want to hold on to it. I can’t scratch it up. I don’t have that power. Regrettably it has to be heard and I have to give a date.”
– “The professional careers of men with previously impeccable records have been terminated and their reputations destroyed by these charges without any evidence being led against them. A petition signed by 88% of staff members in support of the three senior managers referred to comments made by the Chairman of the NBS Board at the time of the alleged fraud to the effect that he knew that the men were innocent and that none of them had benefited from a penny from the alleged fraud.
– The controversy surrounding this matter merits an independent investigation into how these men, who held three of the top four positions in the NBS, came to be charged in the first place.
The public needs to comment on the revelations in the GHRA report, but in the meantime I add my call to that of the GHRA for an investigation into this entire matter and for the men to be paid. How can the Board refuse to pay the men, especially the pensions to which they contributed?
Yours faithfully,
Cecil Thomas
