Warning that new allegations pointing to a link between government and a confessed drug trafficker pose a threat to national stability, opposition leader Robert Corbin yesterday reached out to the international community seeking support for an international probe.
Corbin yesterday dispatched letters to the diplomatic community, regional and international governments as well as international organisations, seeking support for an international investigation of the allegations. Letters were also sent to Caricom Secretary General Edwin Carrington and several local organisations.
Corbin had told a protest rally yesterday that the PNCR would be collaborating with other opposition parties and stakeholders to decide the way forward in dealing with the issue. A meeting was subsequently held yesterday afternoon between the parties and other stakeholders where there was support for writing to the diplomatic community.
In the letters, seen by Stabroek News, Corbin referred to the “sordid” developments arising out of the US trial of Robert Simels, former lawyer of confessed drug trafficker Roger Khan, and he emphasised the national and international security implications as well as the grave consequences for the stability of the state. In this regard, he sought assistance to encourage President Bharrat Jagdeo and the Government of Guyana to heed the call by citizens, for an international criminal investigation, to be conducted by a reputable international body such as Interpol. “It should be now obvious why we consider it necessary to seek international assistance and support to have an investigation conducted by Interpol, or a similar body, and we now formally seek your support and assistance,” Corbin wrote in the letter, citing mounting evidence in the period since 2002 and official disregard. He noted the failure of efforts to have the Guyana Parliament discuss the issues and he also mentioned that no positive action has been taken on previous requests to Caricom. He recalled that on June 27, 2008, the joint opposition parties forwarded a petition to Caricom leaders who met in Antigua, seeking their intervention over flagrant constitutional breaches but no positive action was taken.
But the PNCR leader said last week’s sworn testimony of Selwyn Vaughn, a witness under protection of the US government, implicated the government and provided essential information about the assassination of prominent journalist and political activist Ronald Waddell as well as the murder of over 200 Guyanese by a phantom squad headed by Khan. Additionally, he said the testimony named Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy, as facilitating Khan’s activities. “As the case progresses, more startling information is being revealed that cannot, and ought not to be ignored by the international community, especially Caricom, the Commonwealth and the United Nations and its specialized institutions,” he declared.
According to Corbin, since 2003, there have been several witnesses and potential witnesses who provided sworn testimony that could have facilitated local investigations by the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and/or commissions of inquiry. However, he said neither the GPF nor the government responded. Further, he added that potential witnesses ended up being killed after declaring their intentions and he referred to the revelations of self-professed informant George Bacchus and his subsequent assassination as a well-documented case.
However, he said with the testimony of Vaughn and others in the US, for the first time sworn evidence is available from witnesses who are still alive to offer it in a court of law, albeit in the US.
What is more, Corbin said that based on their conduct in the past, neither the government nor the police force could be entrusted with the responsibility of conducting a thorough investigation into the allegations.
