Attorney Sase Gunraj today charged that there is a smear campaign against Prema Ramanah-Roopnarine who was recently fired as the Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and has been charged in relation to a probe of the Guyana Rice Development Board.
A statement from Sase Gunraj follows:
Over the past few months there appears to be a deliberate smear campaign against Mrs. Prema Ramanah-Roopnarine.
It is clear that this nefarious plan was designed to ultimately terminate her services as part of an ongoing campaign of discrimination against certain individuals, particularly females who are qualified and competent professionals.
On May 24, 2017, Mrs. Ramanah-Roopnarine was served with a letter from the Agriculture Ministry’s Personnel Department dismissing her with immediate effect. No grounds or reasons were advanced to justify terminating the services of someone who has served with distinction for over 10 years.
It is noteworthy that Mrs. Ramanah-Roopnarine’s contract was renewed on February, 1st 2017and was valid until 2020.
The records will indicate that Mrs. Ramanah-Roopnarine who is a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), and who is currently completing her final Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) paper has been a tremendous asset to the Ministry in delivering on its objectives over the last decade.
During her tenure at the Ministry, Mrs. Ramanah-Roopnarine established accounting manuals, policies and procedures, procurement and disposal boards and other systems designed to achieve and improve transparency and accountability at the Ministry and its agencies.
Mrs. Ramanah- Roopnarine has served under four Ministers; managed the Ministry in the absence of the Permanent Secretary, represented the Ministry locally and internationally, including before the Public Accounts Committee to address any financial accountability related queries. Over this period also, the Ministry was able to spend all of its recurrent and a majority of its capital budgets.
Hence, this arbitrary move by the Ministry simply serves to confirm that indeed there is a campaign of discrimination being waged against certain individuals, particularly professional women.
Regarding the now well publicized charges by SOCU against Mrs. Ramanah-Roopnarine as a Board Member of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), we are constrained from divulging any information that would prejudice the outcome of the ongoing legal matter, suffice to say we remain confident that the Courts will vindicate Mrs. Ramanah -Roopnarine as the charges are clearly malicious and were carefully coordinated to culminate with her dismissal.
This becomes even more obvious since according to International Financial Reporting Standards, Management is responsible for implementing internal controls which will result in true and fair preparation of the financial statements.
Further, it is the function of the auditor to express an opinion as to whether these financial statements were prepared without material misstatements. Neither of the foregoing is the responsibility of the Board or its individual members.
Interestingly, the audit for which these charges arise, never provided an opportunity to my client to answer any of the allegations/queries contained therein even though she was still employed by the Ministry of Agriculture under whose purview the GRDB falls.
It is clear that this is nothing short of a witch hunt. This sinister campaign will no doubt be unraveled and laid bare as the trial progresses.
