Christopher Jones arrested, Granger described incident as politically inspired ‘witch-hunting’

Georgetown: Former Sports Director Christopher Jones was on Friday released on $100,000 station bail after being arrested in the wee hours of the morning at his home for simple larceny in relation to several barber chairs and other items.

Jones, was first taken by police to the Diamond Police Station and later transferred to the Brickdam Police Station where he was being questioned by investigators.

Police carried out a search on Jones’ Tucville home during a power outage however; they had no warrant to carry out the search and seizure, but eventually did and a quantity of barbershop chairs and other items were seized.

The search was executed after an audit conducted showed that the Ministry of Social Protection approved the disbursement of $4.9M under the Region Four administration for the procurement of equipment for a barbershop under the Sustainable Livelihood and Entrepreneurial Development (SLED) programme.

A Financial Return presented revealed that the full amount was spent by December 31, 2019, but almost $1M in items were not actually delivered and the project was not executed and some of the equipment were stored at Jones’ home.

Meanwhile, Leader of the People’s National Congress–Reform (PNCR) David Granger condemned “the recent unwarranted and unlawful deprivation of the rights and freedom of Mr. Christopher Jones.”

As leader of the PNCR, Granger said ranks of the Guyana Police Force, who blatantly disregarded an order of the court and unlawfully entered the premises of Jones, arrested him and seized personal property, must be condemned and investigated.

“The PNCR will not allow this type of harassment of former public servants or any citizen by agents of the state to stand.  The PNCR calls on all Guyanese to join us to strongly condemn this abuse of state power and the persecution of an innocent man,” Granger said.

Further, the PNC/R leader described the incident harassment and politically inspired ‘witch-hunting’ of current and former public servants.

“The PNCR stands firmly with Mr. Christopher Jones and will do everything to ensure that his rights and freedom are no longer violated. The PNCR demands an immediate investigation into what is clearly a well-coordinated and orchestrated political attack,” Granger stated.