Page 24
Kaieteur News
Sunday July 22, 2012
SUNDAY SPECIAL TOP COP SHAKES UP NARCO DEPT. In the latest move that shows his boast about rooting out corruption in the Force was not an idle one. Commissioner of Police (Ag) Leroy Brumell has shaken up the top echelons of the police Narcotics Department. The hammer fell on a highranking officer and three other ranks of the department who were all reverted and transferred following allegations of corrupt practices. Kaieteur News understands that the men are fingered in the collection of a $12M bribe to influence the outcome of a probe involving a cocaine bust that occurred in Canada a few months ago. According to reports, the drug was found in pallets shipped to the North American destination from Guyana. Although no concrete evidence has been obtained to support criminal charges against the cops fingered, a source said that there was enough to arouse the suspicion of the Force’s administration that all was not right with the local segment of the investigation. Reliable sources have indicated that at least one of the ranks fingered in the recent scandal was involved in another questionable act regarding the movement of cocaine evidence. One source disclosed that the rank was implicated in the disappearance of a kilogram of cocaine from a quantity of the drug that was seized by the law enforcement agency near Bartica a year ago. Although, there was an investigation into that disappearance, no one was held responsible and the matter was covered up by the Force’s administration at the time.
The incomplete Cacique Hotel and Banquet Hall on the market SURINAME INVESTING US$70M TO MODERNIZE AIRPORT The Suriname Government has signaled intentions to invest an extra US$70 million in expanding and modernizing the J.A. Pengel airport. The plan for this has already been prepared and potential financiers have been approached through the Central Bank of Suriname (CBvS). “This is just the beginning. We have great plans to turn Suriname into a hub,” says Minister Falisi Pinas of Transport, Communication and Tourism (TCT), who spoke Thursday at the official handover of the airport’s arrival lounge and parking lot. According to Suriname’s daily De Ware Tijd newspaper, so far US$28.5 million has been invested in the airport’s modernization. For the time being, the arrival lounge, commercial centre and parking lot have been handed over, while the runway has been repaved, the platform for planes has been
renovated, the runway lights on the arrival side have been replaced and a backup system for electricity has been installed as well. The US$70 million will be used to construct a second runway on which planes can taxi. Then the airport need not depend on just one runway, but will be able to handle more flights a day. This is also in line with international safety regulations. The departure and arrival lounges are currently apart from each other, but plans are to connect them by 2014 with air bridges. Guyana has signed a controversial contract with a Chinese firm to expand and modernize the Timehri airport to the tune of US$150M. It will see the current runway being extended about 3,000 feet and the construction of an entire new terminal building. It will also include eight air bridges and more check-in and arrival booths. MONDAY EDITION HOMEAFFAIRS ATTEMPTED COVER-UP– WHISTLEBLOWER The man who blew the
whistle on the massive racket at the police vehicles auction said that it was Office of the President that initiated the investigation into the scheme and not the Ministry of Home Affairs as was reported in the media. He also claimed that it was the officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs who were dragging their feet on the issue and not the police’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). The whistleblower came forward to set the record straight after reading a recent report in the press in which the Minister of Home Affairs chastised the police investigators for the way the matter was handled. The Minister had accused the police OPR of foot dragging on the matter. He also accused them of leaking the subsequent information to this newspaper for monetary rewards. But the whistleblower who was a part of the auction said that he decided to speak out on the fraud that was taking place when it became clear that the perpetrators would stop at nothing to carry out their activity. The businessman told this newspaper that although he had warned those who were carrying on the racket that he would blow their cover, they persisted nevertheless. TUESDAY EDITION LOCAL MINERS LAMENT ‘CHINESE TAKE-OVER’AT IMBAIMADAI Miners who operate at Imbaimadai have voiced their concern that the Chinese are taking over the mining industry which is the profitable operation at Imbaimadai and most interior locations. The miners said that the Chinese are seemingly having more privileges than them who are born and bred Guyanese. This issue was raised at a
village meeting facilitated by the Guyana Women Miners Organization (GWMO) last Sunday. Miners spoke of victimization as the Chinese were granted permission to operate on the same lands that were denied to the locals. This, they believe, is another attempt to stifle small and medium scale miners. They said that some time ago, residents of Imbaimadai had an operation at the said location. However, they were reportedly told by a mining officer that the area could not have been located on the map; therefore they could have no longer continued mining on those lands. They were ordered to immediately remove. “Then, all of a sudden, dem locate it on de map and dem say how it is a PL (prospecting licence); now we hear dem say how dem turn it into blocks. Next thing, de Chinese come and get de whole thing. We can’t understand dem thing this; we can’t go to China and take over but look…” The miners said that before the Chinese, the industry was flooded by Brazilians and Spanishspeaking nationals but on a smaller level. NO ADS ON PROCUREMENT WEBSITE FOR MULTIMILLION $$$ LAB The non-placement of an advertisement for bids on the government’s procurement website has once again raised questions about the manner in which the government procures goods and services. Two Tuesdays ago, three bids, from foreign companies, were opened at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) for the supply, delivery, installation, commissioning and training in the use of laboratory
equipment for the Government Analyst – Food and Drug Department, food chemistry and microbiology laboratories. The procurement is being done under the Agriculture Diversification Project, which is being funded by the InterAmerican Development Bank, and would end up costing millions of dollars. Bids were received from two Trinidad companies and one from a United Kingdom company. Kaieteur News understands that the advertisement for bids was placed once in the Guyana Chronicle and was also advertised internationally. However, the advertisement was not placed on the government’s procurement website. The government had said that the website ( w w w. e p r o c u r e . g o v. g y ) would be the principal means it would use to issue invitations for bids and tenders and vacancies. Kaieteur News understands that the advertisement for the laboratory equipment was sent to the Gove r n m e n t Information Agency (GINA), which is responsible for uploading the website. However, GINA claimed that because of the cuts to the 2012 budget, it did not have personnel to upload the website. WEDNESDAY EDITION LINDENERS GEAR FOR FIVE-DAY SHUTDOWN Scores of Lindeners gathered Tuesday at the Old Palm Tree Cinema at Wismar, Linden, for a public meeting aimed at setting the stage for a five-day protest that would begin the following day. Organisers indicated that the shutdown would involve all businesses, including the privately-owned boats, minibuses and taxis. Continued on page 37