‘Visa fraudster’ and ‘Money Launderer’ Patrick Mentore is being protected by Rohee and the PPP
By Staff Writer
June 26, 2013
(OneVoice Guyana)
Georgetown, Guyana: June 25, 2013 – Guyana’s Attorney General Anil Nandlall admitted today what even those paying mild attention to the PPPC government already know: the PPPC government does not have the WILL to prosecute big criminal fish, including money launderers and narco-traffickers. Indeed, many of these criminals are political cronies of the Jagdeo-PPPC cabal, fully embraced, employed and partnered with the PPPC regime; they are safe from honest Guyanese police. Case in point, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee, in May 2013, announced the names of ten civilians to oversee the implementation of the Guyana Police Force’s strategic plan. This team was to be led by a former police officer, US Embassy employee and disgraced money launderer and visa trafficker, Mr. Patrick Mentore.
Mentore’s sordid exploits are referenced in gory detail in David Casavis’ recent book, “The Thomas Carroll Affair”. Even according to that book, Patrick Mentore worked for the biggest alien smuggler in Guyana of his time, Mr. Haleem Khan, and provided clients to disgraced US Embassy staffer, Mr. Thomas Carroll. Mentore’s responsibilities also coordinated “Black Clothes” protection for Carroll, accessed protected phone records, and was even asked to ensure that a certain petty criminal who ran afoul of Carroll was punished. Mentore’s deep involvement in corruption, fraud, money laundering and alien smuggling are also well documented in US court records in the Thomas Carroll case, in which Carroll was sentenced to serve 21 years in prison.
Despite this recent and public history, the Honourable Clement Rohee and the PPPC government trust Patrick Mentore to oversee desperately needed police reforms. Guyanese citizens should wonder how compromised Clement Rohee and the PPPC must be to enlist a known criminal to lead a police reform committee. Honest Guyanese should also realise that those reforms would regard the very laws that Mentore broke for money. Recently, this same Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee, referred to law and order being precarious because of the actions of the Opposition and known activist actions. What undermines the fabric of society more, however, than when the very Minister openly mocks efforts at reform by the appointment of a criminal like Mentore?
It must also be noted that Mentore’s boss, Haleem Khan, was sentenced to three years prison time in the United States for his crimes. Yet, his Guyanese political friends allowed him to hold on to his property and cash. He still lives a cozy life in his mansion in Guyana, and several automobiles. This reminds of the properties of convicted drug dealer, Roger Khan, whose properties in Guyana remain protected by the Jagdeo-PPPC cabal.
Who could ever take Mohabir Anil Nandlall and Clement James Rohee seriously when not only does the PPPC administration not prosecute these criminals, but they co-opt and employ them, and cavort and form business partnerships with them? The time has come for Guyanese citizens, civil society and Guyanese media to get serious about democracy and the rule of law in Guyana.
The PPPC is a corrupt regime. Even longtime PPP supporters now say openly that the Jagdeo-PPPC cabal’s ministers are criminals accepting bribes, and kickbacks, and forming secret business partnerships to enrich themselves while the honest Guyanese suffer high electricity prices, disastrous roads, low quality schools, no running water to their homes, and a constant rape of the taxpayer-funded treasury. Guyanese society must wake up and demand change before it is too late.