SOCU report with Police Legal Advisor

The report relating to serious infractions at the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) has been sent to the Police Legal Advisor, after which action will be taken, according to President David Granger.

“I asserted that SOCU is an organic part of the Guyana Police Force so in terms of investigation, in terms of any recommendation out of the investigation it will be up to the Commissioner of Police first to initiate action and I’m sure, I’ll be advised by the Minister of Public Security,” the President told the media at the sidelines of an event at the Ministry of the Presidency Wednesday.

The President had told the media that strict penalties will be instituted but assured that SOCU will not be dismantled.

He had committed to restoring public trust in the agency tasked with investigating several high profile cases.

An audit of SOCU- the body set up to investigate financial crimes -found backdated cheques, lack of receipts for various sums, forgery of signatures, irregular transactions, duplicated invoices and other fraudulent activities between 2016-2019.

The audit was ordered by Commissioner Leslie James following claims of mismanagement of over $52M collected from the Public Security Ministry for operational costs.

SOCU was set up under the Guyana Police Force in 2014 along with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to investigate money laundering and other financial crimes in response to non-parliamentary recommendations from Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF).