Last week’s resignation of Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) forensic analyst Sheronie James will not be detrimental to the cases she handled, according to Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan, who yesterday said two experts have been hired to fill the vacuum created by her departure.
“It will not be a big blow because other expert opinions can be obtained based on the documentation… that exists,” he said when contacted by Stabroek News.
Persons close to the unit had said that James’ departure would have a devastating impact on many high profile court cases that were filed by SOCU given that she is a witness. Her departure created uncertainty as to whether she would be testifying.
Ramjattan, a lawyer, said that after James was not deemed an expert by the court, corrective action had to be taken. In this regard, two persons, both holders of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) qualifications, were hired.
In July last year, Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan, upon the completion of a voir dire in the trial of eight members of the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) Board of Directors, ruled that James could not be deemed an expert in the field of forensic analysis as she did not have the academic qualifications.
“That has been remedied with two officers who I understand have that qualification and we will have to ensure now that they have their complete benefits and so on,” Ramjattan said while stressing that the situation was “quickly” remedied after it was recognised that having the ACCA qualification was very vital for the court.
Asked what will happen in the matters where James is slated to testify, he said that the other investigators at the unit will now have to look at the existing documents that SOCU is relying on and get expert opinions from the two new hires.
In an effort to dispel some of the rumours that were swirling as well as to shed some light on her decision to resign her position at SOCU, James last Thursday issued a press release in which she insisted that her qualifications, awarded by recognised UK universities, “meet and exceed the requirements for the work I was undertaking at SOCU.” She said that both Ramjattan and the head of SOCU, Sydney James, had seen original evidence of her academic qualifications before her offer to resign and she had no qualms about their authenticity being verified.
The Special Superintendent disclosed that in 2017, she was invited to assist SOCU’s forensic investigative capacity based on her international experience and her contract, which ran to the end of January 2020 was renewed as recently as in November 2018. She denied ever saying that she had worked concurrently in “22 countries.”
James said that her resignation from SOCU was a carefully considered decision and not related to her refusal to present her academic qualifications as has been alleged. She added that her decision to resign was done to avoid compromising her “commitments to obligations of Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure.”
The Forensic Analyst said that during her tenure, her skills and experience have enhanced the forensic investigative arm of SOCU, enabling the unit “to receive significant Mutual Assistance Cooperation from 3rd countries in its pursuit of financial crimes committed against the people of Guyana.” Further, she insisted that she has conducted all her investigations in accordance with the highest standards of professionalism and impartiality in spite of reported surveillance and threats against her and her family.
“My professionalism, impartiality, objectivity, completely apolitical and non-politically partisan manner to ensure clear conclusions to support fair justice have been hallmarks of all of the investigations I have dealt with at SOCU,” she said.
The release made note of James’ disappointment in the timing of this controversy, now that she said that SOCU’s hard work is about to show fruit and the unit is on the cusp of delivering hard evidence of financial wrongdoing. She said that she is worried that the current developments could “well affect the outcomes of several compelling matters presently engaging the courts.”
James went on to state, “It appears my relentless pursuit (with increasing success) of tracking the evidence of acts of international cross border financial crime does not sit well with my detractors as there appears to be an emerging high stakes, threatening and sinister plot beginning to be played out, of which I will play no part.
Her appointment and qualification were also placed under the microscope during an immigration hearing for former Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) employee Peter Ramcharran, who is currently in Canada. Ramcharran was charged in his absence along with several others last June with failing to record entries for funds amounting to over $250 million in total in the agency’s general ledger from 2011 to 2015.
Ramcharran is currently fighting deportation.
His attorney, Kaisree Chatarpaul had told Stabroek News in December that he had cross-examined James via Skype during a hearing before the immigration tribunal over several days.
He claimed that James, who was responsible for 70 investigations involving the GRDB, admitted that she was a Senior Superintendent but she could not say who appointed her. Chatarpaul claimed that James even admitted that she was never interviewed nor was she appointed by the Police Service Commission. “I argued [that] would make her illegal,” he had said, while adding that the SOCU official took offence at the fact that he was able to gain possession of certain documents.
