British Advisor not involved in Pradoville 2 probe- British High Commissioner

Following an engagement with the media earlier this week, British Advisor attached to the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU), Dr. Sam Sittlington has found his role being questioned by Opposition members.

However, British High Commissioner to Guyana, Greg Quinn has clarified that Dr. Sittlington was “trying to be helpful in explaining the legal basis and rights on which SOCU took the actions they did.” Those actions included the arrests of Former President, Bharrat Jagdeo and Former Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon.

During his short engagement with the media on Tuesday (March 07, 2017), which was also recorded by News Room, the Advisor was asked if he thinks the members of the former Government will be detained beyond that day, to which he said: “I’m not sure yet…” He also related the number of persons arrested, adding that “there are more due for questioning, but it depends on whether they will turn up or not.”

Opposition Member of Parliament, Anil Nandlall said the Advisor seemed to be functioning as part of the operations of SOCU and expressed his belief that the comments made by the Advisor have “political underpinnings.”

Quinn in a short statement to the media today (Friday, March 10, 2017) noted that it would be wrong to interpret the engagement as Dr. Sittlington being involved in the investigations themselves as “he was not.”

Nandlall also questioned who is paying Dr. Sittlington to which the British Commissioner said: “Dr. Sittlington’s current contract was funded by the British High Commission and was designed as a follow-up to his work with SOCU last year.”

Several persons were questioned by SOCU over the past week with Director of Public Prosecutions, Shalimar Ali-Hack being the most recent.