Both citizens and state agencies would have to do their duty for there to be a chance to prosecute and convict self-proclaimed crime fighter Roger Khan of any offence, according to retired Rear Admiral Gary Best.
Best told reporters yesterday that while the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) had anecdotal evidence against Khan while in opposition, it did not have access to the state apparatus which should have been working to investigate his alleged crimes.
Khan was released from a US prison in early July. He had served almost ten years of a 15-year sentence for drug trafficking. He was sentenced after he pleaded guilty to trafficking cocaine, witness tampering and gun-running. He was deported here last month and questioned over two murders before being released.
Speaking at the PNCR’s weekly press conference at Congress Place, Best said the PNCR was concerned that many persons seem to be escaping the law and encouraged persons who might have evidence to do their “civic duty” and come forward while assuring that the David Granger-led administration will provide as much protection as needed to those persons who wish to come forward and give that evidence.
Asked what efforts his party had made to amass evidence that could be used to possibly secure a conviction against Khan, Best, a former Guyana Defence Force Chief-of-Staff, stressed that it was for state agencies to amass such evidence.
“In a State you expect the apparatus to remain intact so what the party expected that when it came into government, it would therefore find whatever evidence was gathered by the State and State institutions to deal with the issue of crimes that were [allegedly] perpetrated by Mr. Roger Khan,” Best said.
He specifically asked “what happened to… information…gathered by state agencies?”
“You have the criminal side and the civil side…from Opposition [the] party could not gather information to use. [We] expected state apparatus to have the information,” he maintained, before adding that the GDF’s Military Intelligence Unit had gathered “bits and pieces of information” which was passed on to the police force.
“Did we receive information that the State could have acted on criminally and lead to a charge against Mr. Khan? I don’t think we did. We have a lot of information that if processed perhaps could have gotten to that stage,” he stressed.
Khan had been arrested in Suriname in June 2006 and was seized by US authorities in Trinidad while en route to Guyana.
Upon his return last month, Khan was detained by the police for questioning in relation to the murders of political activist Ronald Waddell and boxing coach Donald Allison. Prior to his capture in Suriname, Khan had stated that he had fought criminals on behalf of the government. He was believed to have been involved in events that occurred following the February 23rd 2002 jailbreak and was believed to have acquired sophisticated electronic equipment to track mobile phone signals.
