The US government is continuing to oppose a bail application for Roger Khan, saying the drug-indicted Guyanese businessman remains a flight risk.
In her latest submissions to the Eastern District Court of New York, US Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf maintains that evidence of Khan’s guilt is strong and that his history in the United States suggests that he could easily flee to Guyana. In light of these concerns, Khan’s lawyers have submitted that they can obtain a statement from the Guyana Government that it would bar Khan from returning to the country. “If he did they will send him back to the US,” attorney Robert Simels explained in a submission, dated January 3, 2007. Simels also says Khan’s family would be willing to post property valued at US2M to pay for electronic monitoring and private security to ensure his presence.
A bail hearing was scheduled to continue yesterday, but it was postponed because the judge was ill. It has now been rescheduled for January 16.
Khan is charged with conspiring to import cocaine into the US over a five year period from January 2001 to March 2006. The US alleges that he is the leader of a cocaine trafficking organisation based in Georgetown. It also asserts that he was able to import huge amounts of cocaine into Guyana, and then oversee its exportation to the US and elsewhere. The US government charges that a significant amount of the cocaine distributed by Khan went to the Eastern District of New York for further distribution. As an example, it is citing a Guyanese drug trafficking organisation based in Queens, New York, which it says was supplied by Khan. The Queens organisation is said to have distributed hundreds of kilos of cocaine in a two-month period during the spring of 2003.
Following a request by Khan’s lawyers for US District Court Judge Dora L. Irizarry to review the decision to exclude testimony about Khan’s arrest, the US government is maintaining that there is no need to revisit the issue and has asked the court to continue the permanent order of detention in the case. Khan’s lawyers have asked the court to direct the government to allow US Embassy No.2 Michael Thomas and DEA Agent Gary Tuggle to testify. In denying the request to subpoena Thomas and Tuggle, Judge Irizarry ruled that the issue of how Khan was transported to the US had no relevance to the question of bail.
Mauskopf, in a December 30 submission, argued that the defence provided no reason for the court to reverse its order and as a result she urged that it abide by its previous decision. In fact, she pointed out, neither Thomas’ or Tuggle’s testimony is being sought to for any purpose that is relevant to bail – that is, whether Khan is a flight risk or a threat to the community.
According to Mauskopf, Khan resided in the US and committed crimes in both Maryland and Vermont. How-ever, on January 6, 1992 he was convicted in Montgo-mery County of breaking and entering and theft. While he was on probation for that offence, he was arrested in Burlington, Vermont for receiving and possessing three firearms while being a convicted felon. He was subsequently indicted and was released on bail in November 1993. He promised to obey all conditions of his release but fled to Guyana in 1994 in order to avoid prosecution and as a result there is an outstanding warrant for his violating the conditions of his partial release and an outstanding warrant in Rockville, Maryland for violating the conditions of his probation. It is in this context that Mauskopf described Khan as a flight risk. She said there is no condition or combination of conditions or release sufficient to ensure his return to court. Additionally, she said because Khan is charged with importing over 5 kilos of cocaine into the US, there is a presumption that such is the case. “That presumption cannot be rebutted here, especially in light of the personal history of the defendant,” Mauskopf explained. “He already jumped bail once, violating conditions set by another US District Court
