Alliance For Change Leader Khemraj Ramjattan has accused the government of not saying all it knows about the huge Curacao heist which was believed to comprise smuggled gold from Guyana.
Ramjattan yesterday told Stabroek News that he was not accepting that enough was being done to learn the truth and that there was a legitimate wait on documentation to ascertain the gold source. “The government is well aware of this thing … they are trying to create a façade saying they are waiting on this document and the next …The gold is definitely out of Guyana yet you would have a Minister of Natural Resources saying it is not. That is just a shady and shameless piece of diversionary tactic”, said Ramjattan.
The government is yet to answer why local enforcement has not yet interviewed the Guyanese crew of the boat. Crew members have been spoken to by the Curacao authorities and at least one was reported to have told the media that this was not the first time they have made this sort of trip to Curacao. They are said to have expressed fears for their safety because the exporter of the gold would be at risk of exposure. Police Commissioner Leroy Brumell has confirmed that the vessel `Summer Bliss’ was known to have been here in June last year. Observers say that this points clearly in the direction that the gold is from Guyana and that the authorities have to be more proactive.
Two officers of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission had visited Curacao last month in the wake of the November 30, 2012 heist but their findings have not been made public by the agency.
Six persons, one from Bonaire, two from Venezuela and the others from Curacao, remain in the custody of Curacao police for the daring US$11.5M ($2.3 Billion) heist of gold bars. Several Dutch news websites have also reported that 30 bars were recovered in the US but police in Curacao have declined to confirm whether this was indeed the case.
Minister of Natural Resources, Robert Persaud had told Stabroek News on Thursday that Guyana is depending heavily on documentation from Curacao to determine its interest in the gold heist on the island, but so far no information has been forthcoming. “We are starting from the assumption that there is something to work through. We first have to get the documentation to establish that and that is what we want to establish, and that was what the team (from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission) was there to pursue. ‘Show me all the paperwork you have and let us see whether or not there is something that concerns Guyana and what we need to do.’ And that is what we want to ascertain,” he said.
Ramjattan maintained that enough was not being done. “This is just but a fraction of the criminality that happens daily in this country… we have to stop this corruption and when the government controls the powers of investigations and prosecutions we will have this cover up“, he said.
Observers have pointed out that Curacao is not interested in the origin of the gold but that the robbery occurred in its waters and this is where its prosecution efforts are focused.
When Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee was questioned yesterday about what efforts are being made by his ministry in aiding in the acquisition of relevant information about the gold bars that were stolen, from the Guyana-registered `Summer Bliss’, he stated that much was being done with the assistance of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) . He also explained that there is a collaborative effort between his ministry and the Ministry of Natural Resources, the ministry that gold falls under. “We are working closely with Robert’s (Robert Persaud’s) ministry. We are collaborating with the Dutch police through Interpol to try to determine who is the behind the shipment”, he said.
Rohee said that at this time his ministry was also waiting on information provided by Interpol that could potentially link the gold to Guyana.
The Natural Resources Minister had said that his ministry is awaiting the delivery of the documents in “goodwill and trust” of the Curacao government.
It has been reported earlier that officials in Curacao were contacted about the incoming gold shipment as part of the regular security protocol. Police did not say where the gold was being delivered, but one crew member, who identified himself as Raymond Emmanuel had said they were delivering the gold to an unidentified company in Curacao. He said the crew left Guyana on November 21st arriving on the 25th. The boat’s captain had shared with Curacao authorities the intended recipient of the gold bars, but police on that island would not release the name or say anything other than it is an ongoing investigation. The police there too had said that the ship’s crew followed protocol and that there is no special procedure for shipments of high value.
