– govt should seek answers, observers say
Would the co-founder of a reputable UK communications firm lie under oath in a US federal court that the Government of Guyana purchased spy equipment from its Florida office, which later ended up in the hands of a drug trafficker and if so, why would he intentionally damage the administration’s creditability?
These are some of the questions that have been raised by members of the public since Peter Myers of Smith Myers Communications testified in the US Eastern District Court of New York on Thursday and implicated the present administration in the sale of the spy equipment that has been linked to Roger Khan.
Repeated denials of any involvement in the deal by the government have done little to erode public skepticism, particularly since Myers is not known to have a grudge against the administration, and also in the light of observations that his company’s name can take a hit if his testimony is not factual.
Myers, who co-founded the Smith Myers firm, testified under oath that the intercept equipment in question, including an intercept receiver and two laptops, was sold by the company’s Florida sales office through the Fort Lauderdale-based Spy Shop to the Government of Guyana (GoG). He identified the equipment in court during the witness tampering trial of Khan’s former lawyer Robert Simels.
Reacting to the revelation by Myers the government issued a statement saying that it was not a party to any activity with the firm or US authorities in the purchase and or importation of the equipment, and it declared that there is no evidence tying it to the purchase. It said also that it was not a party to any transaction with the US government agency responsible for granting export licensing for the equipment, in a press statement issued by the Government Information Agency (GINA).
The government said too that it had encountered difficulties importing sensitive equipment into Guyana in the past, adding that the authorities in the exporting state usually required the authorities of the importing state to verify the authenticity of the user of such equipment. It said further that in concluding such purchases, a supplier had to obtain from its national authorities an export approval licence. This is a point that had been previously raised by President Bharrat Jagdeo.
The recent GoG statement follows previous denials that the administration played a role in the purchase. Observers have pointed out that since allegations first surfaced about government being privy to the transaction, Myers’s testimony is the first on-the-record public disclosure by someone integral to the sale.
It remains to be seen whether the administration will make direct contact with the UK firm to dissolve suspicions that it was connected to the spy equipment deal.
Government links?
Questions had been raised prior the US trial about Roger Khan’s alleged links to the present administration. The Simels trial which commenced on Monday last in the US has again triggered questions particularly in the light of statements made by US government informant, Selwyn Vaughn.
Khan had claimed that he had worked closely with local and US law enforcement officials in crime fighting here. Prior to the start of the current trial e-mail correspondence written by Simels named Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy as arranging Khan’s training in the operation of the spy equipment. Ramsammy, however, denied knowing anything about it when this was put to him some time ago.
Peter Myers also went on record in the US court saying that an independent contractor, a trainer named Carl Chapman, had been dispatched to Guyana to train the persons who had to use the laptops, and Simels’ defence team maintains in emails and subpoenas that Khan was trained by Chapman to use the equipment.
Critical still, is whether the spy equipment Police Commissioner Henry Greene had publicly declared was in the possession of the Guyana Police Force is in fact the equipment that was seized from a vehicle Khan and others were in at Good Hope, East Coast Demerara.
Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon had commented a few months ago that he was sure the police have some evidence to prove that the surveillance equipment they have in their possession was that which was seized from Khan. However, he added, the notion that it could have been switched with another can’t be dispensed with “because apparently there is a piece of equipment that has surfaced as the seized equipment.”
Dr Luncheon, who is also secretary to the Defence Board, had said further that should the equipment be produced in a US court as evidence then prosecutors would have to tell the court that it was indeed the very equipment that was seized from Khan here.
When the trial continues tomorrow the US government intends to call the FEDEX individuals who were responsible for the movement of the equipment from the US to Guyana and back to Simels’s office, from where the authorities seized it.
It was Luncheon who had also said earlier this year that a “comprehensive response” to the alleged links between government and Khan depends on “comprehensive disclosure.
“There should come a time when there is a comprehensive submission to the administration, or at least [until] we have in our hands something that is comprehensive. I suspect that will depend significantly on what comes out [or] what goes into the public domain of the engagements in New York. At that time, we would be in a much better position to respond,” Luncheon had said.
Ronald Waddell
Ovid Waddell-Smith, brother of slain talk show host Ronald Waddell, told Stabroek News yesterday that he had always believed the killing was “political.” He said that the revelations in the US court are not surprising, and noted that there are enough for the force to aggressively investigate the murder since names were provided.
He noted that since Waddell’s death the force had never contacted the family to say how the investigations were progressing because “nothing was happening.” He said the family had always known that Waddell was a victim of the “phantom gang.”
The brother added that he is looking forward to seeing the persons involved in Waddell’s murder prosecuted.
Vaughn, the informant for the US government and the star witness in the Simels’ trial, testified that Khan ordered the execution of Waddell. Vaughn, a professed former member of Khan’s ‘Phantom gang’, stated that after ordering the hit on Waddell, Khan had contacted Ramsammy. The minister has since dismissed this particular allegation against him as “nonsense!”
Waddell, 57, was executed in January 2006, and according to Vaughn the political activist had been criticizing Khan and was connected to a gang of prison escapees based in Buxton, East Coast Demerara. Vaughn testified that he was in a Burgundy AT 192 motor car when four other named members of the squad turned up and shot Waddell. He told the court he had been the lookout man who was tracking Waddell and he had called Khan on his cell phone that night and reported that the talk show host had left his residence and his car was idling on the roadway. Within minutes, four members of Khan’s squad, all former members of the GPF named by Vaughn, turned up and shot Waddell.
Police had arrested freed murder accused Shawn Hinds and two relatives of dead ‘hitman’ Axel Williams in connection with Waddell’s death, but the men were all released.
Selwyn Vaughn
Since his explosive statements in the US court Vaughn has been the subject of much discussion here. Not much is known about him except that he was a member of Khan’s infamous death squad and that he bypassed authorities here and instead chose to spill all to the US government in return for immunity.
Stabroek News contacted a senior official in the force to ascertain what they knew of Vaughn and was informed that checks were still being made. There are reports that the force knew about Vaughn, but that they never acted on information that he was a key link to Khan’s gang.
Vaughn, who is in protective custody and under special immunity that shields him from later prosecution in the United States, has dropped many explosive statements since taking the stand on Monday last to testify in the Simels’ trial.
He has disclosed that Khan ordered the hit on Waddell, that he [Vaughn] was in contact with Ramsammy on Khan’s behalf, and that Khan also ordered the execution of Agricola boxing coach Donald Allison, among other statements.
What is known about Vaughn is that he was the confidential source who helped the US government to implicate Simels and his associate Arienne Irving, who are jointly charged with plotting with Khan to threaten and bribe witnesses to prevent them from testifying against Khan.
Vaughn, who became a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) informant after Khan was arrested and taken to the US in 2006, has also testified that he was asked, because he was a schoolmate of Rondell “Fineman” Rawlins, to infiltrate the Buxton group on behalf of Khan. He said too that he had provided a safe house in Agricola for the infamous Rawlins.
Prior to the trial and his identity being revealed Vaughn was simply known as the Confidential Source (CS). In the 18-page complaint filed in the Eastern District Court of New York against Simels, Khan and Irving in 2008, it was reported that Simels met the CS and asked for assistance in locating the individuals he believed to be cooperating against Khan, and during subsequent discussions Simels discussed offering them money and even murdering their families.
The CS acting with law enforcement met Simels wearing a recording device and recorded their conversations. During those early discussions Simels asked whether the CS would testify on Khan’s behalf saying that if he did testify certain untruths would have to be told.
Khan is currently awaiting sentencing in the US after pleading guilty to trafficking in 150 kilos of cocaine into the US over a five-year period, from January 2001 to March 2006.
