Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo has upped his party’s call for the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to investigate a “secret” bank account abroad, which he alleged has had large sums of money passed through it to date.
While the party’s leader said that he is convinced that the supposed account exists, he is hoping that the FIU can confirm this to the Nation. However, Jagdeo is yet to make a formal report to the agency.
Asked why a formal report was not made, Jagdeo said that his party can do that today, noting that a formal report is not often needed to kickstart investigations into financial allegations. He said that his party chose to make its “findings” public without first confirming it, because going public is the only way that the FIU will investigate. He said that many reports were made to the agency in the past but to no avail.
“ [When] we make these requests in the public, that’s the only way it gets answer. I am prepared to say I’m wrong. Let the FIU prove me wrong, and I will accept it,” he declared.
Jagdeo surmised that if the Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan – who is accused of being the holder of the account – claims to be faithful to transparency and accountability, then he should have no issue with cooperating with the FIU.
While Jagdeo agreed that there is nothing wrong with a minister having an overseas bank account, the large sum of money, some $US 5M, that has supposedly passed through it, does raise some red flags.
Ramjattan, three days ago, did not confirm or deny that he is the account holder. The PPP/C, via a Facebook post wrote, “We are calling on the Financial Intelligence Unit and other relevant State agencies to investigate the origin of money contained in a bank account established by Khemraj Ramjattan in 2016 at the Capital One Bank in Valley Stream New York. Over US$5M has passed through it to date.”
Minister Ramjattan was contacted by this publication on December 24, and questioned about the veracity of PPP’s statements. The Minister listened to the question and responded, “boooy!” before disconnecting the call.
