Leader of the Alliance for Change and Former Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan has condemned the arrest of a number of former Senior Police Officers as well as several serving Police Officers who were charged and placed before the courts on Thursday over allegations of fraud related to a review of the Force’s Standing Orders.  

Assistant Police Commissioner Royston Andries-Junor, Senior Superintendent of Police Marcelene Washington and Asst. Superintendent Marlon Kellman were charged along with retired senior Officers Paul Slowe, Clinton Conway, Claude Whittaker, George Fraser, Mark Gilbert, and Michael Sutton for allegedly conspiring with each other and persons unknown to defraud the Guyana Police Force of $10,056,000.

“This is a disastrous development,” Ramjattan declared during an online interview this morning.

He added that “in my view it is a witch-hunt of epic proportion and it will come back to haunt the PPP because I rather suspect that the leadership or the leader who is doing this is from a faction complete control,” the former Minister pointed out.

According to Ramjattan, the issue at hand is not one of principle but that of revenge. Describing Paul Slowe as a ‘complete professional’, Ramjattan recalled that Slowe was refused promotion under the PPP government because he refused to go by illegal orders.

“Paul Slowe was hated by the PPP when he was a member of the Guyana Police Force as a Senior leader there…And that is what the PPP didn’t like about them. Those who could have argued back with the government and say that their policies are wrong or management of policies are wrong, they want to hit back and this is one way of hitting back,” Ramjattan observed.

Ramjattan said the former senior police officers were all “heroes’ of their time who are now being made villains.

“This is terrible for the Guyana Police Force. I think this is but another guardrail that is being broken in our society…And it will fuel divisiveness, because we know for a fact that a lot more Afro-Guyanese are in the police force, a lot more afro- Guyanese lead the police force in these high up positions and so on and what this control ‘freakism’ is revealing its ugly head of authoritarianism,” Ramjattan said.

Turning his attention directly to the Police Service Commission, (PSC) Ramjattan said that institution is a check and balance institution against the executive of the day and any attempt to discredit that institution is an attempt to hide from scrutiny and engage in corrupt practices.

Related posts:

SOCU charges current and retired senior Police Officers with conspiracy to defraud Retired Senior Police Officers arrested for alleged fraud after revising Force’s Standing Orders SOCU files charges against 3 Senior Police Officers over allegations of fraud DPP denies political pressure in advice of fraud charges against Senior Police Officers