Deeds Registrar denies fraud allegations

Registrar of Deeds Azeema Baksh has told police that she never had the authority to authorise any payment to herself and all money she has received from her job was in keeping with a Cabinet decision.

Baksh broke her silence through a statement that was issued yesterday by her attorney, Nigel Hughes, which denied the allegations that she made fraudulent payments to herself of over $4 million and waived revenue due to the registry, while noting that she provided the police with all the documentation and other material to confirm her innocence.

Baksh was last week sent on administrative leave and on Tuesday the Chambers of the Attorney-General Basil Williams SC and the Ministry of Legal Affairs announced that it had referred complaints made by staff and their call for an investigation into alleged financial improprieties committed by her to the police.

According to Baksh’s statement, on February 13, 2013, the Cabinet took a decision that all staff of the Deeds Registry who opted to transfer to the Deeds and Commercial Registry would be paid severance and would be offered contract gratuity appointments.

Azeema Baksh-Singh

The staff was then written to by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Legal Affairs on the May 19, 2014 and provided with two options, either refuse the offer of employment with the Deeds and Commercial Registry and be transferred to another government ministry or department or accept employment with the Deeds and Commercial Registry and receive severance under the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act.

The statement said Baksh accepted the offer of employment with the Deeds and Commercial Registry and was paid severance in keeping with the offer.

It pointed out that payment of salaries for the staff of the Deeds Registry is prepared by the Human Resources Department and submitted to the finance department for disbursement of salaries.

“Ms. Baksh does not have the authority to direct the Human Resources Department or the Finance Department, to make any payment of salaries; these Departments report to the Governing Board of the Deeds and Commercial Registries Authority, nor has she ever authorised the Human Resources Department to place any member of the Deeds and Commercial Registry on the payroll,” the statement said.

It was noted that on Tuesday, Baksh, on the invitation of the head of the fraud department of the Criminal Investigation Department, attended an interview at which the allegation was made that she had wrongfully authorised the payment of her own salary on a contract basis when she was still a member of the permanent establishment.

It added that she denied the allegation and undertook to provide the police with all the documentation related to the Cabinet decision, the offer of severance and the payment of her salary.

On Wednesday, Baksh returned and provided the police with copies of the Cabinet memo, the offer from the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Legal Affairs and other pertinent documents.

The statement said no allegation of any waiver of fees or waiver of any monies due to the registry or the government was put to her during the interviews with the police.

“Ms Baksh strenuously denies the allegations and will continue to provide the Guyana Police Force with all the documentation and other material to confirm her innocence,” the statement added.

Baksh’s account mirrors that in a statement by former Attorney-General Anil Nandlall, who on Wednesday labelled the move against Baksh as another case of “sexist vengeance” by Williams.

On Tuesday, a statement from the Chambers of the Attorney-General said that both the Human Resources and Accounting departments of the registry complained that as head of the budget agency, the sole person in authority to approve and sign off the payroll of the Deeds and Commercial Registries Authority and one of the main signatories on the authority’s bank account, Baksh had allegedly “unlawfully paid herself gratuity well knowing she was a pensionable  employee having been appointed by the Judicial Service Commission.”

She had also allegedly unlawfully paid herself a higher salary than was approved by the Judicial Service Commission.

The statement added that officers also disclosed that the payments started since 2014 and continued up to the present and amount to nearly $4.5 million.

Further, the statement claimed that Baksh had waived the sum of a little over $7 million that was due to the registry. It explained that the sum of $8.5 million was “unlawfully waived” upon the request of an attorney-at-law, who only paid the sum of $1.5 million.