Over 160 more public officials cited for failing to declare assets to Integrity Commission

The Integrity Commission has identified over 160 more public officials whom it says have failed to submit declarations of their assets and liabilities in keeping with the law.

In the sixth such list published in the Official Gazette and the Guyana Chronicle newspaper within the last five months, the Commission identified 163 persons from 20 public agencies, including the Guyana Power and Light (GPL), Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC), the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority and the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.

The largest number of persons listed, 52, are employed by the GPOC, including the Postmaster General, several managers and 27 Postmasters from across the country.

The Integrity Commission Act requires that every person who is a person in public life, not being a member of the Commission, files a declaration every year on or before June 30th and in cases where such persons cease to be a person in public life, within 30 days from the date on which the person ceases to be a person in public life.

“A declaration under subsection (1) or (2) shall give full, true and complete particulars of the assets and liabilities as on the relevant date, and the income during a period of twelve months immediately prior to the relevant date, of the person filling the declaration (whether the assets were held by that person in his own name or in the name of any other person) and of the spouse and children of such person to the extent to which such person has knowledge of the same,” it further states.

Among the persons listed are Chief Statistician of the Bureau of Statistics Lennox Benjamin, Administrator of the Burrowes School of Art Ivor Thom, Vice Principal of the Cyril Potter College of Education Paula M. Montfort, Head of Laboratory at the Guyana Gold Board Dawn Shepherd, Commissioner/Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission Trevor Benn and Executive Director of the Guyana National Bureau of Standards Candelle Walcott-Bostwick. 

Listed from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport Corporation are Chief Executive Officer Ramesh Ghir, Deputy Chief Executive Officer Andre Kellman, Operations Manager Alvin Majeed, Human Resources Manager Yeolena Callender and Quality Control Manager Nicole Austin.

Listed under the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation are General Manager Rawlston Adams and Plant Manager Troy Halley.

From the Dependent Pension Fund Assistant Secretary/Finance Officer Hilary Walcott and Directors  Patrick Yarde, Lancelot Baptiste, Mohan Khan, Lincoln Lewis, and Gillian Rockcliffe are listed, while from the Environmental Protection Agency Administrative Officer Joshua Muridall, Director Sharifah Razack and Senior Environmental Officers Karen Ann Small, Camille Adams,  Stacy Lord, and Candacie Brower-Thompson are listed.

From the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, those listed are Chief Executive Officer Brigadier (Retired) George Lewis; Deputy Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Gonsalves; Assistant Director, Nursing Services Keith Alonzo; Director, Medical and Professional Services Dr. Sheik Amir; Consultant-Head of Department (Internal Medicine) Dr. Mahendra Carpen; Director of Procurement Karen Cumberbatch;  Assistant Director, Nursing Services Celeste Gordon; Consultant-Head of Department (Psychiatry) Dr. Bhiro Harry; Chief Public Safety Officer Mark Lewis; Senior Registrar – Head of Enmore Poly Clinic Nicole Nedd-Jerrick; Consultant- Head of Department (Orthopaedics) Dr. David Samaroo; and  Consultant- Head of Department (Ears, Nose and Throat) Dr. Sudhir Bahadur Sharma.

From the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority, Director-General Lieutenant Cornel (Retired) Egbert Field, General Counsel Amanza Walton Desir, Director Air Navigation Services Chaitrani Heeralall, Human Resources Manager Carol Primus, State Safety Programme Coordinator Cargill Kyte, Manager (ag) Air Navigation Services-Training Courtney Frank, Manager (ag) Air Navigation Services-Operations Roy Sookhoo, Senior Air Traffic Control Officer (ag) (Operations) Trevor Daly, and Senior Air Traffic Control Officer (ag) (Training) Clifford Van Doimen are listed.

The list further includes from the Guyana Livestock Development Authority Deputy Chief Executive Officer Dwight Walrond, Head- Animal Production Unit (ag) Colleen Bascom, Genetic Improvement Specialist Robin Austin, Livestock Industry Development Specialist Michael Welch, Head, Human Resources Department Lennox Wilson, Accountant Selma Sealey, Internal Auditor Bhagwattie Rikiram, Corporate Secretary Monique Ifill, Finance and Administrative Manager Cymeon Nedd.

From the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority, Chairman Leslie A. Sobers, board members Jocelyne Josiah, Joel Edmond, Aretha Nichola Campbell, Scheherazade Ishoof Khan as well as Secretary Violet Boyal, IT /Licensing Manager Arifa Persaud and Chief Executive Officer Prudence Lewis-Bhola are listed.

From the Guyana National Newspaper Limited, General Manager Sherod Avery Duncan, Editor-in-Chief Nigel Williams and Plant Superintendent Samuel Bynoe are listed.

From the Guyana National Printers Limited, General Manager Jagmohan Bassoo, Finance Manager Shawn Victorine and Production Manager Emerson McKoy are listed.

Also listed from the Guyana National Shipping Corporation are Managing Director Andrew Astwood, managers Sese Norville, Gidel Thomaside and Ashford Glen as well as Accountant (ag) Steve Stanley, Facilities Manager (ag) Dwayne Loncke, and Security Administrator Albert Ferrel.

From the Guyana Office for Investment, Chief Executive Officer Waynewright Owen Verwey, Senior Investment Officer Roxanne Sumner and Head of Accounts/Administration Officer Jacqueline Stuart are listed.

From the Guyana Oil Company, Corporate Services Manager Shaundell Brotherson, Company Secretary and Legal Officer Llissa McTaire- Jones, Aviation Services Manager Lloyd Mangra, Marketing and Sales Manager (ag) Jacqueline James, Finance Manager (ag) Rosalyn Franklin and Facilities Manager Brion Singh are listed. 

From the Guyana Post Office Corporation, the Integrity Commission has identified Postmaster General Karen Browne; Nicola James-Erskine, Director Financial Services; Margaret Adams, Human Resources Manager; Hazel Nurse, Inspectorate Manager; Patrick Darrell, Finance Manager; Avinash Patterson, Operations Manager; Tiffani Ferrell, International Affairs and Quality Service Manager; Winifred Morris, Agency Services Manager; Mahadeo Rambharose, Philatelic Services Manager; Orin Peters, Properties Manager; Wayne Seymour, Area Manager ‘B’; Devon Fredericks, Area Manager ‘D’; Lorraine Hamilton, Area Manager ‘E’; Clifford Farley, Area Manager ‘F’; Tracey Abrams, Supervisor of Records; Juliette Gonsalves, Superintendent of Counters; Alvah Kingston, Superintendent of Parcels;  Andria Bailey, Chief Postmaster Anna Regina; Dorcas Chance, Senior Postmaster-Bartica; Sharon Murphy-Haynes, Senior Postmaster-Bourda; Ronald Johnson, Senior Postmaster-Charlestown; Carlyn James, Senior Postmaster-East La Penitence; Esmey Caesar (Mc-Phoy-Gray), Senior Postmaster-Grove;  Michie Layne-Stephens- Postmaster-Enmore; Brian Smith-Persaud,  Postmaster-Fellowship; Cynthie Hunter, Postmaster-Kamarang;  Fayeon Hinckson, Postmaster-Kitty; Ruth Primus, Postmaster-Leguan; Germen Hyman, Postmaster-Leonora; Cecilia Austin, Postmaster-Lethem; Rainsford Smith, Postmaster-Mabaruma; Joy Neptune, Postmaster-Mahaica; Samantha Jack, Postmaster-Mahaicony; Dionne Jagan, Postmaster-Mahdia; Danielle Kelman-Fraser, Postmaster-Matthews Ridge; Deon Anderson, Postmaster-Melanie; Sonia Clemonds, Postmaster-Plaisance; Julia Shoundell Jagan-Wilson, Postmaster-Port Kaituma; Andrea Tucker, Postmaster-Providence; Sharon Kendall, Postmaster-Rose Hall; Bibi Naraine, Postmaster-Suddie;  Alpha Washington, Postmaster-Wales; Rose Ann Adams, Postmaster-Wakenaam; Simone Downer- Postmaster-Weldaad; and Benita Yolanda Blair, Postmaster-Whim.

Under the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated, those identified as being in default are Albert Gordon, Chief Executive Officer; Elwyn Marshall, Deputy Chief Executive Officer-Technical; Balgobin Persaud, Divisional Director – Human Resources; Parsram Persaud, Divisional Director-Loss Reduction; Bharat Harjohn, Divisional Director –Operations; Vijay Datadin, Divisional Director-Information Technology; Laurian Bancroft, Corporate Secretary; Deryck Phyll, Manager, System Control and Engineering Services; Compton Holder, Procurement and Inventory Accounting Manager (ag); Shaun Hamlet; Network Operations Manager; Linden Bollers, Internal Audit Manager; Denise Martindale, Manager, Corporate Systems Development and Support; Silviena Charles, Customer Services Manager- Call Centre; Lunsford Cummings, Customer Services Manager-Operations; Leon Duncan, Operation Manager-Information Technology; Lennox McGregor, Project Manager-Project Division; Nigel Chetram, Quality Manager; Dale De Roy, Deputy Human Resources Manager; Wayne Watson, Metering Manager; Loaknauth Singh, Field Services Manager; Dennis Swan, Manager, Training and Development; Dukharan Jonathan, Facilities Manager; Wendy Jones, Chief Accountant; and Shaun Ogle, Procurement Specialist.

The first list of errant officials was published in November last year and contained 87 names, inclusive of 15 ministers, the Speaker and opposition Members of Parliament. The second list, which was published shortly after, contained the names of 80 defaulting Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) officials and the third, which was published on December 8th, included the names of errant regional officials in all ten administrative regions.

The fourth list published in January had 160 names including that of Bank of Guyana (BoG) Governor General Dr, Gobind Ganga, Audit Director (ag) Audrey Badley and councillors from nine of the ten Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs) while a fifth list of errant public officials—the shortest to date—was published on February 2nd.

Commission Chairman Kumar Doraisami had announced last December that errant public officials would be given two more months to declare their assets before legal action would be taken. It is not clear if any such action has been taken.

The Integrity Commission Act states that those officials who fail to submit their declarations or submit declarations that are false or incomplete shall be liable, on summary conviction, to “a fine of twenty-five thousand dollars and to imprisonment for a term of not less than six months nor more than one year, and where the offence involves the non-disclosure, by the declarant, of property, which should have been disclosed in the declaration, the magistrate convicting the person shall order the person to make full disclosure of the property within a given time and on failure to comply with the order of the magistrate within the given time, the said offence shall be deemed to be a continuing offence and the person shall be liable to a further fine of ten thousand dollars for each day on which the offence continues.”