Eve Leary fire report completed; review underway before findings made public- Benn

Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn has confirmed that investigators have completed the probe into the fire at Eve Leary that gutted the Police Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR).

Benn, during a telephone interview with the News Room on Monday, disclosed that “we have to meet with the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and we will discuss the report.”

“We cannot disclose anything at this time,” Benn stated.

“We have not reviewed the document as yet…we are having that meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) and then maybe, we will have a position,” he continued.

The OPR, along with the Police’s Construction Department and a dorm section was destroyed in the fire on November 20, 2021. The blaze appeared to have started in the dorm section that housed ranks who stay at the Police Headquarters.

Approximately 25 ranks stayed at the dorms and they were all questioned as investigators sought to determine the cause of the fire.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions was spared from the fire. But in the chaos to save the building, the thousands of files at the office were left in disarray as officers rushed to save them.

It was said that 98 per cent of the DPP’s critical case jackets, hard drives and other files were saved from the fire.

Now, the DPP’s office remains closed indefinitely until the sorting is completed.