Error to dismantle State Asset Recovery Agency

The State Asset Recovery Agency (SARA) whose mission it was “to aggressively pursue corruption, the theft of state Assets & to nurture transparency in the use of Government & public Assets” was dismantled last week.

The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government would find it difficult convincing anti-corruption advocates the dismantling of SARA does not have sinister motives. In the Irfaan Ali government are ministers and other appointed officials who have had their integrity questioned, locally and internationally.  The President himself had charges of corruption before the court as then Minister of Housing and was denied a Canadian visa as a consequent of.

One of the first things he did after being sworn into office was to have the charges against him dropped. There is a school of thought that these charges should have been put in abeyance during his presidency and prosecuted when he demitted office. That thought acknowledges the constitutional provision on presidential immunity for criminal and civil charges which are applicable for actions during the presidency in relation to the office, not before or after.

The government should not forget that the world sees them as the most corrupt government in the English-speaking Caribbean. It was during their period in office Transparency International, for years, ranked Guyana that low. The players of that era are in office today albeit in different posts. A government that would want to give the impression it has turned over a new leaf would ensure rather than remove institutions to bring about transparency and fight corruption.

The justification used by Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, to dismantle the agency is flimsy. If according to the Minister the agency was an “abysmal failure… is unlawfully established [and] is the subject of legal challenge in the court” it would have been better to have the court rule before dismantling. The Minister also considered SARA a waste of taxpayers’ money.

It may be opportune to note an anti-corruption agency (SARA) is seen as a waste of taxpayers’ money, but the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), which should be profit making has been accruing financial loss for more than two decades, and relies on the Treasury. To operate GuySuCo has had to rely on taxpayers’ money to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. The government may be saying that while it actively promotes wastage of taxpayers’ money such money must not be used to prevent corruption and hold the corrupt accountable.

And even if one were to agree with a thinking that the agency was not legally established, a different approach should have been used.  It makes sense to either address the concern about legality or put a new agency in place before dismantling. By doing neither suggests the government is happier not being oversighted.

One of the alleged acts of corruption SARA was investigating was the purchase of lands in Sparendaam, East Coast Demerara, allegedly below market value. Those lands were used by a previous PPP/C government to build Pradoville II. It sends an horrible message to the public dismantling an institution of state investigating the conduct of siad public officials. It is an abuse of public office and privilege and a form of corruption.

Former Deputy Director of SARA, Aubrey Heath-Retemyer, in a recent interview with KAMS TV said SARA saved Guyana billions of dollars after unearthing a string of corrupt practices that occurred under the PPP/C Administration pre-2015. According to him, there are cases before the court brought by the agency which amounts to $12 Billion. Now that the agency does not exist it is left to be seen what would become of these cases.

It remains an error to dismantle SARA. The agency represents a major guardrail to prevent corruption and recover state assets from corrupt officials. Given the government’s notoriety on corruption and with the presence of oil and gas, small wonder how the state’s revenue would be appropriated and how officials would use their influence to pillage the state. With the removal of SARA and no replacement before removal, a cross section of people and organisations view the government with deep suspicion.