Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr. Roger Luncheon yesterday stated that Cabinet has agreed to establish a Commission of Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the presence in Guyana of an Ecuadorean plane which was seized on October 30.
Luncheon said, according to GINA, that five Commissioners are to be appointed and the Terms of Reference will focus on inquiring into “the nature of ownership and the circumstances leading to the aircraft’s arrival in Guyana, inclusive of the persons involved in its placement and its flight handling in Guyana.”
Additionally, Luncheon said, there will be an investigation of the authorisation, permission, and the nature of the mechanical works and ground handling and storage for the aircraft at the Ogle Aerodrome. Focus will also be placed on the authorisation given and procedures followed in allowing the aircraft to depart the Ogle Aerodrome on a flight plan filed for Boa Vista, Brazil.
GINA said that the COI will also look into the nature of events and the circumstances leading to the search and rescue efforts and the eventual finding of the aircraft at an illegal airstrip east of Pirara on October 30, 2012.
The HPS said that, “significant thought went into the form of the investigation, in the sense that the aircraft is not a Guyanese registered aircraft and it has been here for months, `sheltered’”.
He also pointed to the start of the radical rehabilitation, restructuring and modification to the aircraft “to permit it to do un-Cessna like things.”
The aircraft piloted by Brazilian Goncalo Ferrera Nema Neto arrived in Guyana en route from Trinidad two months ago on a technical flight. The pilot went missing after the plane landed at Pirara.
