As the trading of blame continues with respect to the government’s tackling of gold smuggling and corruption here, former president Donald Ramotar yesterday said that during his tenure in office the United States never raised the issue of gold smuggling with him.
Although the 2012 US$11.5 million Curacao heist where gold was stolen from a Guyanese fishing vessel believed to be smuggling it for individuals here occurred under his tenure, he said that when he left office local police were investigating.
“I didn’t know about any gold smuggling investigation… The US never raised it with me or said anything,” the former president told the Stabroek News yesterday. As regards the Curacao gold heist having local connections, he added, “As far as I know, it was the police handling the investigations. The last time I asked the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, they had said that they were cooperating with the police.”
On Saturday, former Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman stated that when the APNU+AFC government entered office in 2015, US agents provided a briefing on the extent of gold smuggling that had been occurring under the previous PPP/C administration.
As the fallout continued from the US’s sanctioning on Tuesday of Nazar and Azruddin Mohamed over an alleged gold smuggling network, Trotman underscored that when APNU+AFC took office in May of 2015 smuggling had already been a major problem and Washington apparently did not trust officials of the preceding administration.
Trotman has spoken about this subject in the past and critics have said the 2015 to 2020 APNU+AFC administration also failed to rein in gold smuggling.
In a letter that appeared in the Sunday Stabroek, Trotman said that in 2015, there was a briefing given, of a very sensitive nature, to himself and Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan, about an ongoing investigation in the US in which Guyanese were supposedly involved. This investigation, he said, had started a few years prior, which was before the coalition’s term of office commenced, and it was ongoing. He said that he continued to receive briefings on various matters during his tenure as minister.
“The primary concern shared by the US agents in 2015, was the belief that gold, mined in Guyana, Venezuela and Colombia, was being illegally shipped from, and through Guyana, to the US. Most concerning, was the belief that the proceeds of the sale of this gold were financing activities that were very inimical to the security and interests of the United States. This was not an investigation into corruption only,” Trotman wrote.
He related that the agents who shared the information informed him and Ramjattan that they were only then authorised to share such information because in the past there were serious concerns about confidences being kept and sensitive investigations being compromised by Government of Guyana officials.
Trotman said that they were also informed that local law enforcement agencies were being, or were to be, briefed.
He added that the sharing of that intelligence with him and Ramjattan was just that, a briefing, and they were not asked to provide any information, or to take any action on the Guyana side. He said that he asked whether he could speak publicly about the numbers that were disclosed and was told that he could.
Sometime afterwards, Trotman said, the Ministry of the Presidency ordered and initiated its own intelligence-led operation, with a unique sobriquet, to curb gold smuggling and transnational crime.
“I am reliably informed that this operation was shut down within 5 days of the new administration taking office in August, 2020,” Trotman said.
However, that was denied by a release from the Ministry of Natural Resources, which said yesterday that the public had been visited with another fit of Trotman’s fantasy on the matter of gold smuggling by accusing the government of dismantling a unit that never existed.
Sources told the Stabroek News that it was former president David Granger himself who had initiated the investigation dubbed ‘Operation Nimble Mule’.
On the US side, a source explained, it was named ‘Operation Gold Digger’ and involved the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Patrol.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said that neither he nor the government were ever privy to or knew of ‘Nimble Mule’ and maintained that they had also been left in the dark regarding the US’s recent investigations of the Mohameds and Permanent Secretary Mae Toussaint Jr Thomas-Meerabux. He said that the government has asked for documents relating to the probe so that it can conduct its own investigations and gather evidence for possible action.
United States Ambassador to Guyana Nicole Theriot last week said that the investigation leading to the sanctioning of the Mohameds and the PS was more than two years in the making and that information could not be provided to anyone here lest it be compromised.
Where is the evidence?
Weighing in on not only the gold smuggling issue but the corruption, former speaker of the National Assembly Ralph Ramkarran said that the environment in Guyana was one where although evidence was asked for by governments, people were scared to speak for fear of victimisation.
“Where’s the evidence? It’s all around for anyone who wants to see. But it’s not the duty of the public to unearth evidence of corruption and present it to the authorities. The opposition, the public and the press are duty bound to highlight its possibility or potential and it’s for the authorities to investigate,” he wrote in his Conversation Tree column.
“Had they noted the years of chatter in this matter, this embarrassment would have been avoided. But embarrassment is not the only issue. The US Government is clearly, impliedly, sending a message to the Guyana Government that quite apart from any interest the US might have in reducing corruption in the US and in Guyana, a friendly country, that corruption exists on an extensive scale in Guyana and that Guyana ought to do something about it,” he added.
“Guyana is on the cusp of great achievements. Despite criticisms, vast, unexpected, and unbelievable developments are being driven by broadly sensible and rational policies and managed by able leadership in the government. And the government is experienced enough to understand that in countries like Guyana, even without oil but, moreso, with Guyana’s new found bounty, corruption will grow rapidly, become more extensive, and gnaw away at its credentials, unless it takes the issue seriously and complainants, who may otherwise wish the government well, are not treated as enemies of the state,” he said.
