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Kaieteur News
Sunday July 17, 2016
SUNDAY SPECIAL COPS RE-OPEN MONICA REECE, TREVOR ROSE AND SHEEMA MANGAR MURDER CASEs As the Guyana Police Force (GPF)’s Major Crimes Unit moves to re-open cold cases, the seemingly forgotten cases of Monica Reece, Trevor Rose and Sheema Mangar are top on its agenda. Crime Chief, Wendell Blanhum made this revelation last Saturday to reporters following the conclusion of the Guyana Police Force’s 177th Anniversary Route March. Blanhum said that almost daily, persons whose relatives were murdered five to 10 years ago, have been visiting the Criminal Investigation Department asking that these matters be re-opened. ”We have assured them that we are in the process of re-opening some of the cases we know for sure we will be able to make headway in,” Blanhum said Having received about 20 requests from relatives, the cops are currently working on about five cases, some of which include the cases of Trevor Rose, Sheema Mangar and Monica Reece. The Crime Chief said that he recently requested the file on Monica Reece. ”I recently requested that file (on Monica Reece). When we locate that file we will be analyzing the evidence and also we will make a determination and make contact with the Police Legal Advisor,” Blanhum said. He added that ranks will have to look at the evidence, analyze and review statements taken and then engage the Legal Advisor on the way forward. And Commissioner of Police Seelall Persaud said, “We have seen the CID developing the best it has done in contemporary times, all because of those two key issues, building of morale and developing public trust. I have been receiving letters from relatives of persons who were murdered a decade and beyond, and in a particular case, a letter from the media asking for the re-opening of a case that occurred in excess of twenty years ago.” ”We are experiencing the benefits of the hard work we have made to change our organization.” ”We need to keep going in that direction,
we have not arrived, and as a matter of fact we are far from there.” On April 9, 1993, Reece, a 19-year-old security guard became known to all Guyanese after her body was dumped from a speeding pickup vehicle in the vicinity of the Geddes Grant building (now Courts) on Main Street, Georgetown. It was Good Friday night. NICILCREATED FAKEAGM MINUTES, ANNUAL RETURNS …MARCIA SHARMA FACES JAIL TIME — SOCU Investigators at the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) are currently probing a number of cases involving financial discrepancies which took place at the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL). Two such matters which the officials have sought advice on thus far are based on evidence which show how NICIL cohorts colluded to create false minutes for Annual General Meetings (AGM) as well as its annual returns. In the case of the fake minutes for the AGMs, investigators found that the back-up
hard drive on which documents are stored by NICIL revealed that the minutes for the years 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2011 and 2012 were all created on November 2, 2015. It was concluded that the minutes for those years were computer generated on that very date and were not in existence prior to that date. These documents were therefore essentially false. NICIL also gave bogus information to the Registrar of Companies. This newspaper understands that the false information given to the Registrar pertained to meetings which were “supposedly” held on specific dates when this was not true. According to legal advice received by SOCU, this would constitute an offence under Section 518 of the Companies Act Chapter 89:01. That Section of the Act says that a person who makes or assists in making a report, return, notice or other document that is required to be sent to the Registrar and contains an untrue statement of a material fact shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of $15,000 and to imprisonment for six months. In addition to this, a statement which was provided by Joel Freeman, Legal Assistant to NICIL, said that he would usually prepare the draft annual returns in hard copies from the information in the yearly reports which were specially provided to him by the former Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Marcia Nadir-Sharma. He would then give this to the Company Secretary for perusal and correction. Once the adjustments are inserted he would correct and print the document and return it to NadirSharma for her signature. He would then file same.
evidence that the company was even penalized would continue to not only raise questions about the operations at the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFA) as regulator, but also highlight the amount of influence this one investor has in the country. BaiShanLin is under fire after widespread criticisms of its activities here, spanning logging, gold mining, housing, ship building, and river transportation. It ran into financial problems after spreading itself thin, expanding in the different sectors. It owes the government and local businesses hundreds of millions of dollars. It has been granted billions of dollars in tax breaks and duty free concessions. The forest fire destroyed an area of around 906 hectares at the Haimorakabra Logging Company Inc., Upper Berbice River area, Region Ten. The fire burned an area equivalent to 10,000 large house lots. It is controlled by BaiShanLin. According to the report leaked to Kaieteur News, in May 2013 GFC’s Forest Monitoring Division carried out a routine audit of the concession which had been approved for Timber Sales Agreement (TSA) and Wood Cutting Lease (WCL). What they found was highly alarming with local forestry experts now deeming it as probably the biggest forest fire in a concession that is being operated. Whether the fire was deliberately set or accidental was not determined but GFC inspectors were convinced that a fire of that magnitude should “have been reported as soon as it had occurred or was noticed or at the earliest possible time with all the necessary actions taken to reduce damage.” MONDAY EDITION
GFC HIDES MASSIVE 2012 FIRE ON BAISHANLIN’S CONCESSION – COMPANY NEVER REPORTED INCIDENT – BURNED AREAS EQUAL TO 10,000 LARGER HOUSE LOTS A report into a massive forest fire in the Berbice forest concession of Chinese-owned BaiShanLin International Forest Development Inc. is pointing to a major cover-up by authorities and the company. The fire, discovered by forestry inspectors during a routine inspection in May 2013, was from all indications never officially reported by BaiShanLin. The fire investigation and the absence of
PPP’S ‘CONFIDENTIALITY CLAUSE’ HAMPERS GOVT’S RELEASE OF INFORMATION ON CONTRACTS – HARMON Minister of State, Joseph Harmon says that while it may be the will of the APNU+AFC government to make public certain controversial contracts and agreements signed by the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C), doing so may open the coalition to court action. The media has been having a very hard time getting hold of certain contracts and agreements. These are mostly for projects that (Continued on page 33)