“I have seen stranger things transpire,” Trotman said, when asked about the failure by both the government and army to make any public disclosure on Clarke’s indictment.
PNCR leader Robert Corbin refused to comment on Clarke’s case, saying his party would not get sidetracked by “minutiae” but would instead continue to call for an international inquiry into the government’s alleged links to criminal activities in Guyana. “When such an inquiry is done then the issue surrounding [drug convict Roger] Khan and Clarke would be brought to light,” Corbin said.
Clarke will be sentenced next month on two drug charges, according to court documents, but it is not clear if he pleaded guilty to the charges or if there was a trial at which he was found guilty. He was supposed to be a key witness against Khan and he was also among the targets of the witness tampering bid by Khan and ex-lawyers Robert Simels and Arianne Irving.
Public statements were only made by President Bharrat Jagdeo, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, after a report appeared in the Stabroek News earlier this year on Clarke’s indictment. According to Corbin, the government has been “condoning” criminal irregularities and as such an international inquiry is needed. He added that his party would not deal with the matter in a piecemeal fashion.
Meanwhile, Trotman is of the opinion that Clarke could have been “an agent of US authorities” during the time he was accused of trafficking in narcotics. He called on the local authorities to contact the authorities in the US for information so that “an in-depth analysis could be done.” He said the state would have to get the information so the “dots could be connected and the true picture as to what happened and why” could emerge.
There has been a wall of silence on the issue surrounding Clarke and the organisation that Clarke served for 20 years. Army Chief-of-staff Commodore Gary Best told Stabroek News that the army had no comment to make on Clarke, either now or in the future.
Attempts to contact Brigadier (Rtd) Michael Atherly, who was chief-of-staff at the time Clarke was alleged to have been working with the criminals and trafficking in narcotics, and his number two at the time, Brigadier Edward Collins, have been futile.
This newspaper has been reliably informed that Clarke was in the GDF up to 2006, when he was indicted in the US — during the period Collins was in charge.
Given the serious charges levelled against Clarke and considering that he was once the commander of the Buxton anti-crime operation, observers feel that the army and the Commander-in-Chief/Defence Board should explain why the public was not apprised of the indictment and the security risks posed by the defendant to the anti-crime and anti-drug trafficking campaign.
Clarke was accused of working with some of Guyana’s most dangerous criminals while he was heading Operation Tourniquet, which had been set up to quell criminal activities in Buxton. While he was in charge there, many had concerns about the ineffectiveness of the campaign and about the continuing levels of crime. And while he has been accused of working with the criminals, an accusation that came first from convicted drug trafficker Khan, he was also, apparently, along with family members, funnelling drugs out of Guyana to the US.
