-by Kurt Campbell-

One day after the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) charged Directors from the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) with contempt over their failure to produce documents in keeping with a Court order, the bank has secured an extension in the High Court.

GBTI has reportedly already provided SOCU with 9000 documents, but claims it could not immediately locate another 150 documents that the financial crimes investigative unit has requested.

After hearing an application on Friday from GBTI, submitted by Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran, Chief Justice Roxanne George-Wiltshire granted the bank until November 3rd for it to make further searches and further legal submissions.

Mr. Ramkarran believes that the extension will put a stall on the contempt charges currently being pursued by SOCU in the Magistrate’s Court.

GBTI’s Directors who were charged with contempt are expected to appear in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court on Monday to answer to the charges. The Directors include two of the leading members of the Beharry business dynasty and a prominent attorney as well as the bank’s Chief Executive Officer.

The information being requested by SOCU is linked to a major investigation involving a massive US$500 million fraud at the Guyana Rice Development Board dating back to 2011. The investigators want to see documents related to the movement of the US$500 million through the accounts of the GRDB at the local bank.

After spending almost two hours in the Chief Justice’s Chambers, Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran emerged and explained to the media that the bank had always sought to cooperate with SOCU.

He said some documents were destroyed and others misplaced but noted that a total of 9000 documents had been handed over.

Ramkarran said 75 staff members of the bank, worked over 1000 hours to secure documents. He added that it is the bank’s belief that the information contained in the missing 150 documents, could be found in the 9000 documents that have been supplied.

Commenting on the disclosure of private information, the Attorney said the Bank had an obligation to obey legal provisions in the Anti-money laundering Act, which requires that it lay over information.

GBTI had said in a statement previously, however, that its primary duty is to protect the confidentiality of customers.

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