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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday January 20, 2014
St Lucia: Warwickshire man Roger Pratt murdered
Roger Pratt died trying to protect his wife from attackers
(BBC News) A British man has been murdered on the Caribbean island of St Lucia as he tried to defend his wife from attackers. Roger Pratt, 62, was killed on board the couple’s yacht in the town of Vieux Fort on Friday night, police said. His wife, Margaret, was treated for injuries sustained in the attack which took place while the Warwickshire couple were on a round-the-world trip. Police said three people
False Papers Probe
Minister awaiting report on audit that discovered ‘discrepancies’ in credentials of officials at Health Authority... By Anika Gumbs CCN Senior Multimedia Investigative Journalist (Sunday Express) Interview files have gone missing following the discovery of massive irregularities during an audit into recruitment at the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA). The misrepresentation of academic qualifications relating to the hiring of the chief operations officer (COO) Wayne Oudit was among the findings. According to the audit dated December 19, 2013 and conducted by internal auditor John Pouchet, management duped the board of directors (BOD) into believing that Oudit possessed a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA). In fact, the findings stated it was the second time management had misled the board by representing that Oudit was the holder of a MBA. The first occasion was in 2011 when Oudit was hired as the general manager of finance at the ERHA. In spite of the authority stating that recruitment was subject to the relevant background
checks being conducted, Oudit’s false academic MBA qualification was submitted to the board via board paper reference number BOD/2011/338 for him to be hired. This was contrary to Oudit’s curriculum vitae (CV) that lists him as partially completing the MBA in General Management from Henley Management College in the United Kingdom. Oudit’s CV fails to list the year he enrolled to pursue the MBA in General Management. And nowhere in Oudit’s CV is he listed as attaining the MBA. However, for a second time another board paper reference number BOD/2013/192 was falsely prepared stating otherwise for Oudit to be given the nod to be hired as the authority’s COO. Exactly who is responsible for padding the board papers with the false information is unknown. But the saga does not end there though as perusal of the audit showed that from the inception, Oudit’s employment as the COO has been shrouded in controversy. How Oudit ended up being hired as the authority’s COO—a
position for which he never applied—has also raised red flags, the audit revealed. Oudit was hired as the authority’s COO on October 30, 2013 and assumed duties two days later on November 1. The audit said that Oudit was interviewed to fill the chief executive officer (CEO) vacancy and not that of the COO. Oudit placed second in the interview, scoring 274 points. Attorney Ameena Ali, the authority’s CEO, placed first with 293 points and was offered the job. The audit said although Ali did not meet the minimum requirement of 10 years’ experience in general management she was hired as CEO of the authority based on her 30 years work experience and her sound knowledge of core operations in the health sector. The interview panel which comprised chairman Dr Stephen Bhagan, directors Nazimul Ali, Rampersad Parasram and Ryan Ramcharan along with deputy permanent secretary Asif Ali then opted to offer Oudit the COO’s job. Based on the unauthorised signatory the audit noted that Rampaul’s contract may be deemed not valid.
DEATH SQUADs
Ex-cop claims extrajudicial killings are planned, ordered by senior officers Corey Robinson, Staff Reporter A RETIRED cop and a serving police officer have broken the unwritten vow of silence within the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) to reveal how, they claim, cold-blooded killings are ordered by senior officers. But Deputy Commissioner of Police Glenmore Hinds has rebuffed the claims relayed to The Sunday Gleaner, arguing that police personnel are sworn to uphold the law and that there are appropriate avenues for them to take if they are ordered to operate contrary to their duties. “They (police) know their obligations. They know what the law is, and one would want
to believe that if they get something that is contrary to the law, then they have recourses,” Hinds insisted, as he noted he was hearing the allegations for the first time. “There are a number of independent bodies set up to investigate the police.” Due to the sensitivity of their claims, the sources – one of whom spent four years in the JCF patrolling the streets of Clarendon before joining the Mobile Reserve; and the other now performs his police duties at a government agency after helping to maintain order in downtown Kingston for more than two years – asked that their identities not be revealed. Theirs are dark stories about condemned ‘criminals’, who they claim to know were
killed at the order of senior police officers. These senior lawmen, they told The Sunday Gleaner, assign illegal guns - dubbed ‘sweeties’ in some circles - to the policemen, who place them on the dead men’s bodies in order to corroborate pre-written reports of shootouts with the lawmen.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Glenmore Hinds
were in custody, but no arrests had been made. Mrs Pratt had been released from hospital and was helping detectives investigating the robbery, they said. The UK Foreign Office said it was aware of the death of a British national on the island and was providing consular assistance to the family. The cause of Mr Pratt’s death has not been established, but police said there was no evidence he had been shot. A post-mortem examination is due
to take place on Monday. A police spokesman said: “Nobody has been arrested yet but there are some guys in custody. The investigators are very busy looking at what happened.” ‘Found floating’ He said that officers heard that three armed men had boarded the boat, named the Magnetic Attraction, and attacked the couple before fleeing. “Margaret went in search of her husband and found him floating in the nearby waters.
“Roger was retrieved and transported to St Jude Hospital via ambulance along with his wife. “He was pronounced dead on arrival while Margaret was treated and discharged.” The couple had been on their voyage since June, when they left Lowestoft, Suffolk, and headed for the Algarve before navigating their way to the Caribbean. They had been celebrating Mrs Pratt’s birthday when the attack took place.