United States authorities are objecting to indicted Guyanese pilot Khamraj Lall’s request to have his travel restrictions lifted so he could follow his 15-year-old son as he participates in a race car championship series.
Lall, who was found with US$620,000 stashed onboard his plane in Puerto Rico late last year and who is in plea negotiations with prosecutors, is asking District Judge Jay A Garcia-Gregory to lift the restrictions that have left him confined to his New Jersey home except for travel to Puerto Rico for his court hearings. He is currently out on $100,000 bail.
Lall’s lawyer, Rafael F Castro Lang, indicated that his client’s son is a professional race car driver and will be competing in the F2000 Championship Series from March 30 to October 30h this year. He said Lall is an “excellent and responsible father who has accompanied his son to each event he has participated in.”
An assurance has been given that Lall would coordinate any reporting requirements with the probation officer if the request is granted.
However, both the prosecution and the probation officer have objected to the request and the judge is expected to rule.
According to US State Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez Velez, Lall is accused of a serious crime and up to this point he has not provided any evidence of the legal source of substantial amount of money seized. She also pointed out that Lall has only recently requested a new date for the completion of plea negotiations. The extension, she said, is to reach a global plea and settlement to dispose of the criminal charges in Puerto Rico, as well as the pending civil forfeiture complaint in the District of New Jersey, which involves moneys and properties valued some US$7 million.
“At this juncture, the parties are in disagreement regarding a very important issue involving a plea counter offer and must also work with the District of New Jersey in order to reach the global plea discussed. The negotiations required that defendant be engaged and available, instead of distracted and unavailable and travelling around the country,” the state attorney said.
She also stated that should a plea agreement not be reached, the state would be requesting a trial date within the month of April and in order to secure Lall’s presence in court he must remain under the conditions of his release pending trial.
Probation Officer Natalia Feliz also objected to the lifting of the travel restrictions.
Lall was travelling back to Guyana when searches of his private aircraft during a refueling stop at the Luis Munoz International Airport, in San Juan, on November 22 last year, uncovered the cash. US$150,000 was wrapped in plastic bags and a blanket under the exit row seat and US$470,000, in a black suitcase, was found inside a compartment next to the engines. Lall, authorities said, accepted responsibility and ownership for the money and informed that his co-pilot and his father, who were travelling with him at the time, had nothing to do with the cash.
According to the grand jury indictment, Lall, with the intent to evade a currency reporting requirement, knowingly concealed more than US$10,000 in currency and other monetary instruments and transported and transferred and attempted to transport and transfer such currency and monetary instruments from a place in the US, that is, Puerto Rico, to a place outside the US, that is, Guyana, in violation of United States Code 5332(a) (1) and (2).
