Minister of State Joseph Harmon said on Thursday that the search is on for the “ghost” who provided information to this newspaper that Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of the Presidency Omar Shariff was sent on leave over his discovery of a massive fraud.
“In fact, I spoke to Mr Shariff at 7.45 this morning and he did say that he never made such a statement to anybody. So that we would have to get this ghost writer who has given that information but certainly that is Mr Shariff’s statement to me as of this morning,” Harmon said during a post-Cabinet press briefing. Harmon had earlier denied that Shariff made any fraud report to him.
Stabroek News published an article in its Tuesday’s edition which said that Shariff had reported a massive fraud to Harmon and this was the reason behind him being sent on leave.
Asked specifically if he was ever written to about a fraud involving international donor funds, Harmon responded in the negative. “No. In fact I raised this matter yesterday after a report was made in the Stabroek News about a source close to Omar Shariff stating that he had reported this matter to me and that it was the reason why he was sent on leave.”
He said that as far as he knows Guyana has not been written to with respect to any fraud involving donor funds.
“I can categorically state that Mr Shariff never reported to me any matter involving any sums of money that were the subject of a fraud investigation. In any event, if that were so, then it is his responsibility, even if he had informed me, it is his responsibility as the accounting officer of the ministry, to report that matter to the police,” the Minister of State said.
A source close to Shariff had told this newspaper, “…The PS even went as far as complaining to Minister Harmon [Minister of State Joseph Harmon] about a fraud involving a foreign donor fund, which is being covered up for the past few months; from all indications this seems to be only the tip of the iceberg.” The source added that Shariff’s “billion-dollar question” is whether the move against him was because he was “unearthing a number of instances of corruption and fraud.”
The allegations against Shariff is that he hold billions of dollars in bank accounts; the proceeds of a private business he operates.
“Billions? What billions? There is no billions. He has $2 million in shares that he bought… He is one of the largest distributors and sellers of phone card and minutes in Guyana, for both telephone companies, maybe the second largest agent/distributor… and has been doing this job for the past 15 years. He has a $30 million credit facility with GTT and he would buy, say $20 million at one time… Every time he sells a $5 million it goes into the bank. So, it is a constant flow of money every single day of millions going through his accounts but the money goes back to GTT… He buys credit from Airtime, the company that sells for Digicel for that credit,” the source explained.
Shariff’s attorney, Sanjeev Datadin, had told Stabroek News that the investigation involved a personal business that he operates and had nothing to do with his job at the ministry. Datadin had also raised concerns about media reports suggesting that his client has billions of dollars, saying that not only are they untrue but that they have put his safety at risk.
