The Home Affairs Ministry yesterday disclosed that it made over 15 requests to other countries for information to aid criminal investigations over the last two years, while maintaining that the only information provided on the 2008 pepper sauce cocaine bust was insufficient for local proceedings.
The Ministry made the disclosure in a statement in response to a Sunday Stabroek article, `Failure to request info on pepper sauce cocaine bust proof of gov’t disinterest – Ramjattan,’ which it said paints “a very negative impression” of government’s commitment to fight narco-trafficking. The Ministry also said the report could serve as “a potential hindrance” to the strengthening of relationships with counterparts overseas.
“The current policy of the Government of Guyana is that the Mutual Legal Assistance mechanism must be employed as much as possible in situations where important information, which would prove invaluable to any criminal investigation or prosecution, can be retrieved…,” it said.
It added that since the enactment of the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, numerous requests for assistance have been drafted and dispatched by the Ministry on behalf of the Guyana Police Force and the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU} to the respective Central Authorities in other countries requesting information that would assist locally in the investigation and prosecution of several matters, including narcotics trafficking.
Countries to which requests for assistance have since been made include Barbados, St. Lucia, Canada, Venezuela, the United States of America, Jamaica and Suriname, the ministry pointed out, while saying so far over 15 requests have been made. “Many of these investigations are ongoing and the Ministry is still awaiting in some cases responses from the Central Authorities of the requested countries,” it added.
‘No mechanism’
On December 8, 2008, three hundred and seventy six (376) kilogrammes of cocaine were intercepted in Guyana originating shipments at the Port of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. CANU head James Singh had told Stabroek News a request for information was subsequently made through the Home Affairs Ministry and nothing was received, but days later he clarified his statement. In a letter to this newspaper, Singh said that no request for information was made by the Ministry of Home Affairs (on behalf of CANU) to the Canadian authorities under the mutual legal assistance mechanism as established by the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act No. 38 of 2009.
The Home Ministry explained yesterday that during the initial investigations regarding the cocaine seized in Canada, a request was made by CANU directly to the Canadian authorities for the information. “However, as stated before the information provided to CANU was insufficient to commence criminal proceedings in Guyana,” it said.
The Ministry added that the reason that no request was made through the Mutual Legal Assistance mechanism was because at that time such a mechanism did not exist, since the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act No. 2009 was only assented to on June 9, 2010.
The law for the mechanism had been previously passed in 2006 by the National Assembly, but it was not enacted owing to the failure of then President Bharrat Jagdeo to sign the bill into law. Government subsequently re-tabled the bill in 2009 and it was given the presidential assent the next year. A number of bills passed by the 8th Parliament had to be re-tabled due to the failure by Jagdeo to sign them into law.
The Home Ministry noted yesterday that the law establishes the Minister of Home Affairs as the Central Authority for Guyana responsible for receiving and transmitting requests for legal assistance in criminal matters. “Letters of requests for assistance are drafted by the Ministry of Home Affairs on behalf of the requesting law enforcement agency based on information provided by the said agency and established best practices. The letter of request, which includes the specific assistance requested, is then forwarded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (or in some cases the Diplomatic Representative of the requested country in Guyana) in order to facilitate transmission to the Central Authority for the requested country,” it explained.
“The Ministry of Home Affairs wished to emphasise that the Government of Guyana has used and will continue to use the Mutual Legal Assistance mechanism as one of its tools to assist law enforcement authorities in investigating and prosecuting matters in cases where the available information is outside the jurisdiction of Guyana”, the Ministry added.
