Attorney General Basil Williams on Friday said that the purchase of law books by the previous government for the personal use of former attorney general Anil Nandlall constituted a criminal act which might engage the attention of the police.
“Once there is a criminal offence disclosed…on the records or in the audits that matter could go straight to the police,” he said during a press conference where he expressed his views on the matter.
Asked whether Nandlall would be asked to pay for the law books, Williams said that the matter was with the Auditor General, who had sent him the letter from former president Donald Ramotar highlighting, “This alleged private agreement to spend public money and for Nandlall to retain the books.”
He said this issue is something that has to be addressed. “The view is under the Audit Act we have rejected—as we are allowed to do within a month of his sending his report to us—that position that he had offered to us and we understand now that it is supposed to go to the Public Accounts Committee.”
Williams, who called the arrangement criminal, said it is cabinet that has to decide whether Nandlall will be allowed to pay back for the books. “That is not for me to say. That matter is really out of my hands. It is a matter for Cabinet,” he said.
Asked if he would push for the matter to be taken up by the police he responded, “You know we have a lot of these things here and people are saying we not doing this and that. I am not going to essay any tactics that we are going to address. You have to recognize that if you essay certain things men would jump the country.”
It was Williams who last month disclosed the arrangement made between Nandlall and the former president. This letter was sent to Auditor-General Deodat Sharma, detailing the arrangement after the ministry’s Permanent Secretary (PS) Indira Anandjit was sent on 52 days leave when it was discovered that millions of dollars in law books and computer parts were missing from the Ministry of Legal Affairs.
Nandlall came did not deny the arrangement but said that it was made prior to him taking up the position.
“In discussions which I had with… Ramotar, immediately prior to my appointment as attorney general and minister of legal affairs, I specifically requested, as a condition of my service, that the Government of Guyana take over payment arrangements for these books during my tenure as a minister. This was agreed upon as a condition of my service…,” Nandlall said in his statement in which he added that 12 years ago he had commenced subscribing to LexisNexis UK, publishers of the Commonwealth Law Reports.
According to him, he is aware that for decades prior that the Government of Guyana, through its various agencies, paid for professional and technical publications, journals, periodicals and magazines for ministers and professional and technical personnel, as standard operational expenditure. He said he had informed Williams of this arrangement and he had not raised any objections at the time.
In an invited comment on Saturday, Nandlall told Stabroek News that he had already spoken at length on the issue of the law books and stands by a statement which he had issued.
“It is unfortunate that the Attorney General did not concede that this entire issue was hatched by him to create a basis to dismiss the permanent secretary whom he has been witch hunting since he took office,” he said.
Nandlall said now that it is clear that the permanent secretary was not implicated in any wrongdoing in relation to the law books “why then is she not at work and why she is at home being paid a salary by the state?”
Williams had revealed that the law books would have been provided for in the budget of the ministry but were not in the possession of the ministry.
Williams said the second day after the PS went on leave, vouchers were found confirming the disappearance of the books even though they were authorised by her for payment.
“He [Ramotar] is sending [the letter] to save the PS, as I understand, by saying she is not culpable or blameworthy because he had an agreement with Nandlall, who was AG, that Nandlall could use the ministry’s money to buy these books and keep them…,” Williams said.
He added that he did not understand why a former president would write admitting that he was in breach of all the financial regulations.
“We don’t accept the excuse given by the Auditor General that former president Ramotar could have a private agreement with the former attorney-general to spend the state’s money for his own personal benefit. And I don’t know if, being a former president, he might believe that he has immunity… from actions taken but it is one of the strangest things you will find in any part of the world that an arrangement could be made between two government officials to spend public monies… for private purposes,” Williams added.
