| …CIDA’s conflict of interest situation citedUnder Fire: Dr. Naresh SinghDr. Naresh Singh, a Guyana-born executive seeking a top post at CARICOM is now under investigations by Canadian authorities for his alleged conflict of interest role in handing a C’dn$23.2M fund.CARICOM is also now reviewing that application. Dr. Naresh Singh had almost gone past all the administrative obstacles on his way to secure the post of Deputy Secretary General, the second most powerful position in the regional trade body.There are also questions as to how thorough the background checks were in this particular case when the Guyana Government gave its “no objection” to Singh being appointed to that position at CARICOM.But Foreign Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett explained that the “no objection” was a formality and came following a request by Secretary General Irwin La Rocque. She said that Guyana was not involved in the nomination.Asked to comment on the developments, Minister Rodrigues-Birkett said that Guyana was shocked and embarrassed.For the conflict of interest situation,Cheap Jerseys, the Canadian government has reportedly since ordered a hold on payments for the $23.2M Caribbean Local Economic Development (CARILED) Programme of which Singh was the Programme Director.Last August, the Ministry of Local Government here signed an agreement with Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) that would see the administrations in Regions Two, Three, Four and Six receiving training to deal with residents who are interested in establishing and expanding businesses. At the event were Local Government’s Permanent Secretary, Collin Croal, Minister Ganga Persaud and Canadian Ambassador to Guyana, David Devine.Managing the project was Singh and CARILED. But he reportedly resigned from his post at the FCM on Monday, after media tried to reach him for an interview.According to a CBC report from Canada, Singh was a former executive with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) who was at the centre of a recent whistleblower watchdog report. He reportedly left CIDA in a midst of an audit probe.However, there are questions about how he was hired to manage the multi-million CARILED programme which was funded by CIDA, his former employer. This is the alleged conflict of interest that is now the subject of a probe.ProbeCanada’s International Co-operation Minister, Julian Fantino,Supply Cheap Jerseys, has since referred the case to the public sector integrity commissioner.“It has come to my attention that a former CIDA employee may have been in a conflict of interest,” Fantino said in a press release on Thursday.On Thursday, the FCM sent an email to CBC News confirming that Singh resigned from the FCM.“Naresh Singh resigned earlier this week as director of the Caribbean Local Economic Development (CARILED) programme, to pursue other employment opportunities,” said Mouktar Abdillahi, a media relations advisor for the FCM.Public office holders in Canada are subject to conflict of interest and post-employment rules.While it is not clear whether Singh broke any rules or whether Mario Dion,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, the public integrity commissioner, will open a new investigation into the former CIDA executive,Cheap Stitched Jerseys, Fantino said future payments for this project will be withheld “until further notice.”The payments for the Local Government Ministry here would be affected but officials were not immediately available for comment yesterday.According to media reports on the issue, Singh sparked an investigation at CIDA after he allegedly used office resources such as fax machines and a government email address to conduct private business. The executive also allegedly recruited administrative staff to assist in the job, which essentially was consulting with the private sector on the same subject matter the individual worked on in government, Dion said in media reports.An investigation, which covered two years of records, confirmed the allegations. The executive reportedly left the agency while the investigations were underway.No background?Meanwhile, on the issue of Singh being tipped for the post as Deputy Secretary General (SG) of CARICOM,holesale NFL Jerseys, Kaieteur News learnt that Guyana may not have been aware of the Canadian investigation against him when it granted a “no objection” to his possible appointment.According to Foreign Affairs Minister, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, CARICOM’s Secretary General, Irwin LaRocque, had asked the Government of Guyana several months ago for its “no objections” in the process for the appointment of Singh.The Minister said that at the time, Guyana was not aware of anything against Dr. Singh and as such granted its “no objections”.However, this week Ambassador LaRocque was again in contact with the Foreign Ministry and it was indicated that the CARICOM Secretariat may be reviewing the entire situation.Singh reportedly has an impressive background and was chosen as director of CARILED, earning C’dn$100,000 per year, plus significant travel allowances.He was appointed to that position on February 1,Cheap Jerseys Online, 2012 and began a series of trips to the countries covered by the project, where in some cases he was received by ministers. Sometimes he was even accompanied by Canadian diplomats or officials from CIDA – the organization he had left a few months earlier. |
