Administrative Coordinator of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA), Colin Sparman says that the United States request for a probe into gold smuggling involving shipments from Guyana to Curacao will be top of the Agenda of his association’s meeting tomorrow and with President Donald Ramotar on Wednesday.
“We will be meeting together on Tuesday because we have a meeting on Wednesday with his Excellency and this will be one of the issues we discuss at the meeting and then when we meet with him”, Sparman said. However as it pertains to the probe he indicated that he could not speak on the matter until the association had met.
However, the association’s President, Patrick Harding is calling on the United States to show evidence of gold smuggling to the Guyana Government so that it can act accordingly. As of now Harding said he can only go along with the Minister of Natural Resources Robert Persaud that there is no proof of smuggling. “According to the minister we have no proof so far and I have to go with that…If they have let them bring it to the Guyana government and let them deal with that”, he said.
“My miners produce gold we sell it to the gold board we don’t smuggle no gold”, he added.
The views of the two come on the heels of a report in the Curacao Chronicle recently, that the United States has asked Curacao to probe years of gold smuggling between the two jurisdictions. The news item also said reports have surfaced of a dossier on illicit shipments from Guyana to Curacao for the last 15 years.
When Minister of Natural Resources Robert Persaud was contacted yesterday by Stabroek News for comment he requested that questions be sent to him via email. This was done but up to press time he had not replied.
The January 25, 2013 edition of the Curacao Chronicle quoted a January 21, 2013 letter from Washington to Curacao in which the US asked authorities on the island to probe gold smuggling cases between Curacao and the United States.
The report said that it appears that these cases have been going on for 15 years now. The Curacao Chronicle said that one of the questions asked by the US is why the Curacao authorities are only probing the theft of the gold from a Guyanese boat in November 2012 and not the role of custom officials in the case which the US says it “finds very questionable in gold smuggling cases between Guyana and Curacao.”
The Curacao Chronicle said that the US is of the opinion that the local authorities are conducting a “selective” investigation. It added that Washington says that there seems to be no leadership coming from the Curacao Public Prosecutor’s office and even on some pivotal issues the authorities have failed. The Curacao Chronicle report said the US also suggested that documents have been forged.
An official of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission says that if the report is true it is not surprising. “If this is true many people must have read and are now jittery because if the probe does come there can be revelations of mass cover ups here and there”, the source said.
“This though is not surprising. Those people(U.S) they have had their eyes on us for years and I don’t doubt this…we have to now watch and see what is the next move”, the source added.
Washington’s request could lead to further embarrassing revelations following the stunning US$11.5 million theft of gold on Curacao from a Guyanese fishing boat in November last year. The gold is believed to have come from Guyana but local authorities say they have not been able to verify this. Moreover, local authorities have not established contact with the Guyanese crew of the boat who would have been able to give chapter and verse on the shipment.
