A vehicle belonging to former Chief Magistrate Juliet Holder-Allen was driven to a Meadowbrook house on the night that channa bombs used to set the Ministry of Health building alight were being made President Bharrat Jagdeo has said, a claim Holder-Allen dismissed as “total nonsense”.
Jagdeo, at a press conference yesterday stated that law enforcement officials have identified the perpetrators. “We have found the people who started the fire. We have found them because they have confessed and through caution statements, they painted a picture”, he said, adding that “They said where they bought the gasoline from. We went to the person they bought the gasoline from. The person said yes, gave a statement saying yes I recognize this person”. The President noted that they have the names of persons, from whom the bottles were purchased as well as the house in Meadowbrook where the incendiary devices were made. He declared it is known who made the devices and when they went to the Ministry of Health building.
“We know about the people who recruited these others. How the recruitment took place”, he said. “… I see they are talking of a former Chief Magistrate talking about discrimination, you know and she is already on all the airwaves talking about discrimination…”
“But I see that as a pre-emptive strike because this person claims he’s her friend, one of the so-called recruiters. She’s saying he is family. He drove the vehicle, her vehicle to the Meadowbrook area, where they were making the bombs the night. And I’m not accusing anyone of anything but when you consider that the day before that when the three persons were arrested in front of the police compound, that the former chief magistrate was one of those who was there also, then a picture of what took place starts emerging”, the president asserted.
Stabroek News was unable to contact Holder-Allen for a comment yesterday but she dismissed the claims in a report on Capitol News and stated that only she and her husband drove her vehicle.
In a statement yesterday, the police said that they have noted comments made on television and in the print media by Holder-Allen and said that on Tuesday, a message was left at her home for her to report to the Brickdam Police Station. The statement said that the police would like to question the former Chief Magistrate in relation to some issues with regards to the fire at the Ministry of Health. ”This has become necessary based on information which has surfaced during the course of the investigation”, the statement said.
A huge fire sparked by channa bombs completely destroyed the Ministry of Health’s main building and an annex at Brickdam in the wee hours of the morning on July 17, devouring decades-old records, vehicles and a string of key divisions in a major blow to the health sector.
Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee had said on Monday that the fire was well orchestrated by a ring of “intellectual authors, planners and actors”, all working within an established network.