– says Washington willing to cooperate
Following complaints to the US State Department and Department of Justice (DOJ) about New York-based critic Rickford Burke, the Guyana Government on Tuesday said that Washington expressed willingness to cooperate and it has further retained a law firm to fight its case against Burke.
“Through the ambassador, they have expressed their willingness to cooperate and we have retained a law firm in the US that will be pursuing the matters from Washington,” Attorney General Anil Nandlall told Stabroek News.
He said that while the letters were filed in July, retaining the law firm took some time as they had to “settle” the works to be had but that they “ought to commence shortly”.
The Attorney General on Tuesday posted the letters sent to the DOJ and US State Department, on his Facebook page.
In August, the government had informed that Burke, a Guyanese residing in Brooklyn, New York, lodged a formal complaint with a department within the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) alleging that the GoG was persecuting him, among other things.
In consequence, by a letter dated July 27th, 2024, a statement from the government said, the GoG refuted the allegations of Burke as absolutely false and wholly unfounded and considered them to constitute a malicious attack on the integrity, reputation, good name and international standing of the Government of Guyana. That letter was addressed to the Desk Officer for Guyana, US Department of State and copied to the FBI, a number of functionaries within the US Department of State, the Department of Justice, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, and the United States Ambassador to Guyana.
In the statement, the government had said that it was pleased that Burke had engaged law enforcement agencies in the United States. The matter, it added, had received the attention of law enforcement agencies in Guyana and was currently before the court here.
In the aforementioned letter, the government apprised the US officials of allegations that Burke, using his Facebook page, had been, inter alia, libelling, maligning and attacking the reputation, goodwill and good name of a number of business entities in Guyana, under the pretext that he was protecting consumers and customers of these business entities from alleged abuse, exploitation and sharp practices by these business entities. After a thorough investigation by members of the Guyana Police Force and based on legal advice from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Burke and others were charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit a felony, contrary to Section 33 of the Criminal Law (Offences) Act, Chapter 8:01 committed on Afras Mohamed which occurred between the 27th day of August, 2022 and the 23rd day of September 2022.
The letter also stated that the charges were pending before a magistrate in the district where they were allegedly committed and that the magistrate, on examination of the charges, issued a summons to be served on Burke by the Guyana Police Force, authorised by the relevant criminal statute to do so, so that Burke is notified of the date and time of the hearing to permit him the opportunity to answer the charges.
The letter added that in order to serve the summons on Burke, a duly authorised officer of the Guyana Police Force travelled to New York and retained the services of a licensed legal process server in New York, to effect service of the document on Burke. This was done.
The letter said that Burke accepted service of the documents on the stairs of his premises in Brooklyn, New York and the entire process was video recorded by the police officer from the Guyana Police Force who was standing over 100 feet away across the street from Burke’s premises.
Still pending
According to the letter, the legal proceedings were still pending before the court in Guyana.
From the above narrative, the government statement said, it was clear that the government played no part whatsoever in the aforementioned case.
“It is simply a citizen of Guyana taking such legal steps necessary and available to him under the laws of and Constitution of Guyana, to protect himself and his business from what he considers to be” illicit conduct on the part of Burke, the statement said.
Further, the Guyana Police Force, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the judiciary, “have simply discharged their constitutional and legal duties which devolve upon them by the laws and Constitution of Guyana,” the statement said.
The statement added that the government has invited the FBI to thoroughly investigate the complaint made by Burke and if it was found to be baseless,”we hereby request that the Federal Bureau of Investigation take the appropriate actions against Mr Burke”.
It must be emphasized, the statement said, that while Burke was lodging baseless complaints against the GoG with the law enforcement agencies in the US, at the same time, through lawyers, he has filed civil proceedings in the courts of Guyana designed to prevent the hearing and determination of the criminal charges instituted against him. “One would have expected him to willingly appear before the criminal courts in order to vindicate his innocence rather than attempt to avoid those proceedings,” the GoG added.
Further, government pointed out that it had lodged a comprehensive report against Burke with the US Department of Justice, the US State Department, the FBI and other agencies within the US regarding his utterances and publications on the social media, malicious and defamatory attacks on the character and reputation of hundreds of outstanding Guyanese.
These authorities, it said, had been invited to explore all mutual legal facilities available in ensuring that these allegations are fully investigated and the relevant criminal proceedings instituted in both jurisdictions in order to ensure that justice is done in accordance with law.
In the letter to the DOJ, the government said that it had also, last year, and through the Guyana Embassy in the US, lodged a complaint with the US Department of State in respect of Burke.
“Notwithstanding, these venomous attacks continue unabated. I am enclosing for your review and record a chronicle of Facebook postings published by Mr Burke over the past few years. He has been charged with criminal offences in Guyana but as he is out of the jurisdiction, great technical legal problems are encountered in respect of service of these proceedings upon him,” the letter to the DOJ stated.
“The Government of Guyana wishes to engage the US Department of Justice and the relevant law enforcement agencies in a collaborative effort of mutual legal assistance in addressing this matter. We await your urgent response,” it added.
