Fugitive Guyanese businessman Ghalee Khan yesterday morning appeared before a judge in the United States and was remanded to prison on drug charges dating back over ten years.
According to court documents seen by this newspaper, Khan appeared before Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo on a superseding indictment and pleaded not guilty to all counts
In 2008, Khan and Danvor Griffith were jointly charged with drug trafficking and Khan was granted US$200,000 bail and later skipped the country to Guyana.
An arrest warrant was later issued for him after he failed to appear in a New York court and over the past ten years he has established business interests here, ranging from a clothing store to a security firm. Up to last week, he was present at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Command Centre as a Private Sector Commission (PSC) election observer.
Khan and Griffith were both busted on November 3rd, 2008, after a cocaine drop was allegedly made at a New York location. The two were reportedly tracked after leaving Guyana but were allowed to make the drop at the New York location where they were eventually picked up by federal agents.
From Guyana, Khan sought to fight his charges through his lawyers and had filed a motion to have his drug trafficking case dismissed on speedy trial grounds but Justice Jack B Weinstein, a Senior United States District Judge, on November 1, 2017, had denied the motion.
The judge in the ruling had pointed out that Khan did not appear at the October 26, 2017 hearing in contravention of the court’s requiring his appearance.
“The United States Government ‘offered to assist the defendant in traveling to the United States’ for the hearing but the defendant declined,” the judge noted in the ruling.
In dismissing the motion, the judge pointed out that according to cited authorities, a fugitive “from justice may not seek relief from the judicial system whose authority he or she evades.” It was pointed out that persons abroad may be determined to be a fugitive when they refuse to return to the US to face a criminal indictment.
“When offered assistance to return to the United States, Mr. Khan made no effort to do so. Any relief he may have been entitled to is denied on the grounds that as a fugitive from justice, he is unable to ‘call upon the resources of the court for a determination of his claim,’” the judge said in the ruling.
In a letter, dated October 30, 2017, Khan had moved for re-argument and reconsideration of the denial of his motion but the judge said no basis for reconsideration or a change in result had been presented and denied the application.
‘Refusing to appear’
In challenging Khan’s motion to dismiss, acting United States Attorney Bridget M. Rohde had pointed out that Khan’s lawyer at the time, Cesar de Castro, had informed the government that he was aware of the motion hearing but that he was refusing to appear tin violation of the court’s order.
“Accordingly, the government writes to respectfully request that the court dismiss the motion without a hearing a pursuant to the fugitive disentitlement doctrine,” Rohde had said at the time.
Giving a background to the case, she said that on November 3, 2008, Khan made his initial appearance in the Eastern District of New York in connection with the case. He was arraigned on a complaint charging him with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine and was granted bail on November 6, 2008.
On November 25, 2008, Khan was charged with a four-count indictment of conspiracy to import cocaine, importation of cocaine, conspiracy to distribute cocaine and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. He failed to appear at his arraignment on December 8th 2008 and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.
“Rather than appear for the hearing, the defendant fled to Guyana,” Rohde wrote.
On February 27, 2009, Khan was charged with a fifth count, this time bail jumping, and the charge was instituted by superseding indictment.
Rohde noted that on July 9, 2009, Khan appeared in a Guyana court charged with drug trafficking.
According to Stabroek News’ report in July of 2009, Khan pleaded not guilty to the charge of trafficking in narcotics when it was read to him.
It was alleged at the time that on October 23, 2008 at Diamond, East Bank Demerara, Khan had in his possession 3 kilos, 408 grammes of cocaine to supply to convicted prisoner Orlando Dwayne Humphrey, also known as Dwayne Ifill.
It is not clear how this matter ended in the local court.
The US attorney in the challenge in 2017 had noted that based on representation from the defence counsel it is understood that Khan was not going to appear in court despite being ordered to do so. “The government has offered to assist the defendant in travelling to the United States in order to attend the Motion Hearing, but the defendant declined,” she said.
She pointed out that according to a previous case a judge had ruled that a defendant who “purposely leaves the jurisdiction or decides not to return to it, in order to avoid prosecution…is (a) fugitive.” And even where a defendant is imprisoned in another jurisdiction and thereby prevented from appearing, he is not “relieved of a duty to do all he could to return.”
It was pointed out that Khan fled the jurisdiction in December 2008 and never returned.
“Now, in defiance of the Court’s Order and despite the fact that he is at liberty in Guyana and able to travel to the United States, the defendant refuses to appear before the Court for the Motion Hearing. The defendant has offered no legitimate justification for this refusal. He has declined the government’s offer to assist him in making the necessary travel arrangement to return to the United States, and he has not asserted that he is unable to bear the expense of the trip,” Rohde had said at the time.
She pointed out that having refused to comply with the order and flouting his duty to subject himself to the jurisdiction of the court, Khan should not be granted a hearing.
It was argued that while Khan remained in Guyana, the court could not assure that any orders that it issued against him will be enforced. Secondly, the US attorney argued that Khan at the time was flouting the judicial process by refusing, without any justification or excuse, to appear to face the pending charges and resolve the instant motion. It was suggested the court’s refusal to consider the defendant’s motion would have served to both punish him and deter others who may be tempted to similarly flout the judicial process by fleeing the jurisdiction of the court.
“The defendant’s attempt to litigate his criminal case from Guyana – where he seeks to secure a favourable decision without risking the consequences of an adverse result – should not be countenanced by the Court,” Rohde said at the time.
It is not clear if Khan was assisted to travel to the United States but he was arrested as soon as he touched down and is now in an American jail and a status conference on his matter is set for April 1.
