EZjet boss arrested in NY on charge of embezzling US$20M

Posted By Stabroek editor On December 13, 2012 @ 7:21 am In Local | No Comments

EZjet boss Sonny Ramdeo was yesterday arrested in Brooklyn, New York on a charge of embezzlement from his former employer.

 

The Florida newspaper Sun Sentinel today reported federal prosecutors as saying that Ramdeo faces charges of embezzling US$20 million ($4B) from his former employer in a payroll tax fraud scheme. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation in a statement yesterday said that he was formally indicted on December 6, 2012 and made his first appearance in a New York court yesterday.

Sonny Ramdeo

While Ramdeo was arrested in New York he will likely face trial in Florida, according to Annette Castillo, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, in Miami.

 

The report said that from as early as 2005, Ramdeo, 35, worked as the payroll supervisor at Promise Healthcare Inc. and Success Healthcare Group. The Sun Sentinel said that as the payroll supervisor for both companies, Ramdeo managed the payroll for more than 3,500 employees in hospitals nationwide.

Federal officials charge that Ramdeo incorporated PayServ Tax Inc., and told the hospital chains he would handle the transfer of local, state and federal payroll taxes to the proper agencies on their behalf. Instead, authorities charge, he kept the money.

 

In October, Promise Healthcare filed a lawsuit accusing Ramdeo of embezzling more than US$5 million to keep his airline afloat.

 

Ramdeo’s legal troubles came shortly before the US Department of Transportation suspended its air service, throwing the airline into turmoil and leaving hundreds on both sides of the Atlantic stranded and out of pocket. Refunds have since begun.

The Palm Beach Post in its online edition is reporting that Ramdeo, of Sunrise, Florida was charged with three counts of wire fraud, which could send him to prison for 20 years.

 

The indictment alleges that from September 2003 until October of this year, Ramdeo wired money into his accounts that was to have been used to cover payroll taxes for Promise Healthcare’s roughly 3,500 workers. He formed two companies, Payserv Tax and EZjet GT, to receive the money, prosecutors said.

The chain of private hospitals is owned by the same people who own the management company. They own hospitals in seven states. The only Florida location is Promise Hospital of Florida, the Palm Beach Post said.

 

According to the indictment, in 2011 and 2012 Ramdeo made two transfers, totalling US$363,700, to his account that was to be used for payroll taxes at a hospital in East Los Angeles. In October, he diverted US$100,828 that was to cover payroll taxes for employees of a hospital in Gonzales, La.

 

After reports that he was being sought by the FBI in the embezzlement case, Ramdeo apparently went into hiding but said via several press releases issued in EZjet’s name that he was in contact with the FBI.

 

The FBI press release on the case follows:

Sunrise Man Arrested and Charged in $20 Million Payroll Tax Fraud Scheme

 

U.S. Attorney’s Office December 12, 2012

Southern District of Florida (313) 226-9100

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Michael B. Steinbach, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Jose A. Gonzalez, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CID); and Christopher B. Dennis, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), announce the unsealing of a December 6, 2012 indictment charging Sonny Austin Ramdeo, 35, of Sunrise, with wire fraud in connection with a $20 million federal payroll tax fraud scheme, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1343 and 2. Ramdeo was arrested today in Brooklyn and made his initial appearance in federal court in the Eastern District of New York earlier today. He is expected to be removed to the Southern District of Florida on these charges.

 

According to the indictment, from as early as 2005, defendant Ramdeo was employed as the payroll supervisor at Promise Healthcare Inc. (Promise Health Care) and Success Healthcare Group (Success Healthcare), both of which owned and operated hospital facilities throughout the United States. As the payroll supervisor for these two companies (the companies), Ramdeo was responsible for overseeing the payment of bi-weekly wages and related payroll taxes for more than 3,500 employees.

 

To execute his scheme, Ramdeo allegedly incorporated PayServ Tax Inc. and thereafter represented to officers and employees of Promise Healthcare that PayServ Tax would handle the transfer of local, state, and federal payroll taxes to the proper agencies on behalf of Promise Healthcare and Success Healthcare. In fact, however, Ramdeo kept the money paid by Promise and Success Healthcare to PayServ for his personal use.

 

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI, IRS-CID, and HHS-OIG. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ellen L. Cohen.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls.

 

 He sold it for a substantial profit at 25 million/ Now go to St Stephens to confession before you suck on that wafer. Otherwise, know god is watching!

The fact remains there are no PNC fat cats. The PPP party is populated with grotesquely and obscenely rich crooks who 20 years ago did not have a pot to piss in. Unless you can do some truly spectacular Hollywood accounting, there is no remote possibility for Jagdeo to build his home given his official income. He had to steal his ass off.

This is one stupid, greedy f*&K. What an ass? Now he will have to go to jail for 30 years with bubba up his backside simply because he stole money to lose it in the worse kind of investment in under a year.

Seems Jagdeo's buddies are falling like flies..RK....Ed the talking horse.. now this one. Further, there are some 10 or more in the Pipeline including Roopnarine and Baldeo who are surely going to be hug buddies with bubba.

they falling one by one,ppp your days is #,camp st prison is waiting,but what will hurt lots of them now is if the US cancel their visa

Outsourcing, Insourcing and Corruption

Tarron Khemraj On December 12, 2012 @ 5:01 am In Stabroek News Daily,Features 

TK, I would watch my back ( actually I am watching mine with good reason). The PPP are seriously crooked and not reticent to use murder to gain their ends. Look at how they crippled Freddie and constantly harass him. Just be careful. You are one of their principal enemy since you have credibility in the international community and they have no luminary to contest you. Misir has to harmonize with their ideology. Further, he is morally crippled.

Thank you Stromborn. In the past I took things for granted. Now that I have been told by a security officer that I am on a surveillance list the ease with which I moved on the ground is over.   

http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....suse-of-state-funds/

The Marriott Hotel is a classic case of the misuse of state funds

Dear Editor,
In light of the ongoing construction of the Marriott Hotel, we again reexamine the issue of the use of state funds without Parliament’s approval and the people’s consent. This is clearly outside of the rule of law and it is an indictment on the government. It is also an insult to the people by the opposition to allow this project to continue without putting up a fight.
Pressure by the opposition must be brought to bear on this corrupt regime to adhere to the laws and rules of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act and by extension the Constitution. Respect for the rule of law and the people’s right to know is a key ingredient of democracy.
If this administration believes in democracy, then it must act accordingly and respect the democratic process.
Both the opposition and the people are being kept in the dark as to who are the financiers of the Marriott Hotel and how much of the taxpayers’ money is being used to build what we believe will be another white elephant. We call on the government to come clean and tell the people the truth.
In the law, the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act states that all public moneys shall be classified as either – a) received moneys; b) moneys in the Consolidated Fund, including the Contingencies Fund (under parliament’s control); c) moneys in an Extra-budgetary Fund (such as NICIL, Forestry Commission etc.); d) drawn moneys; or e) moneys in a Deposit Fund.
All of this money, in whatever shape or form is the people’s money and classified as state funds. In 2011 the estimated amount was $160 billion of which some $55 billion is secretly placed in what is called Extra-Budgetary Funds under the direct control of the Minister of Finance.
Only the Minister has access to this money, not Parliament. This $55 billion is not however included in the National Budget and therefore is not investigated by the opposition in Parliament.
Rather, in a most convoluted manner; using unclear regulations, these funds are actually hidden from the Guyanese public.
The Minister is even on record of stating that “NICIL money belongs to NICIL” and not the people.
This is absolute nonsense. We call on the opposition to put an end to this type of abuse of the people’s money.
But how did NICIL acquire its assets and whose properties did it acquire for peanuts and sell at premium prices?  It’s all in the vesting agreement that we will deal with another day to reveal how the poor and the working class are being robbed blindly by the political directorate.
When the above question is answered it will reveal that NICIL’s money belongs to the people of Guyana and must be in the Consolidated Fund and only a deceitful, devious and dishonest cabal would say otherwise. We believe that it is wrong for the government to hide the people’s money and use it as it pleases. Clearly, this is classical misuse of the state funds and should not be tolerated.
In researching the issue it was found that according to the Section 39 of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act, all these outfits like NICIL must submit to the Parliament quarterly reports on their financial operations.
The Lotto Funds, NICIL, Gold Board, Frequency Management Unit, GGMC, and the Forestry Commission should be providing their respective Ministers with quarterly reports to be submitted to Parliament for public scrutiny.
What Mr. Brassington and NICIL’s Board of Directors are not authorized to do is to allocate these Extra-budgetary Funds for financing risky social and economic development projects such as the Marriott Hotel which is being built at a time when hotel occupancy rate in Guyana is at an all-time low of 46 percent. Mr. Brassington and Dr Singh are just the caretakers of these funds and therefore are not authorized to spend it without parliamentary approval.
And as we have seen, they have ignored the laws prescribed in the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act, violated the people’s trust and have blatantly shown contempt for Parliament.
The opposition should demand that they hand over forthwith a number of pertinent financial records of all the state assets that have been disposed of/sold by the Government through NICIL, and to deposit into the Consolidated Fund all monies from NICIL, save and except cash to pay the operation cost of NICIL for 12 months.
This is what the people expect from the opposition because they elected them to keep a very close eye on how the government spends the taxpayers’ money.
On June 17th, 2012, the government jettisoned Mr. Carl Greenidge’s motion to direct the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh and the junior minister, Mr. Juan Edghill to make all moneys available from the coffers for an independent audit of NICIL.
It is most unfortunate that the majority opposition to date has not been able to make right on Mr. Greenidge’s motion.
Let us be candid, why did the people vote for the opposition AFC and APNU in the first place when from a position of strength they cower to the PPP bullyism?  For them to carry out such a lame duck attempt in Parliament at righting the wrongs committed by the arrogant and contemptuous PPP is politically pathetic?
APNU and the AFC must be aware that they have to be more aggressive in dealing with this political monster if not, they will lose the battle and the trust and confidence placed in them by the people. In other words, they will have no credibility left and this is exactly what the PPP wants.
Why the opposition has not used its majority in Parliament to pass laws to correct past injustices is anyone’s guess?
After one year, the majority opposition has not passed a single law in Parliament to relieve the burden on the poor and the working class. They have presided over what we have called a “do-nothing” Parliament which is about to recess in a few days.
As we stated, there is some $55 billion outside of the Consolidated Funds and to date, some 12 months after the elections all these funds still remain outside and continue to be misused on shady projects without Parliamentary approval.
The leaders of APNU and the AFC should know from past experiences that they cannot and should not trust the dictatorial PPP. The burden is on the combined opposition to expose the wrongs committed by the PPP and to pass laws to prevent them from happening in the future.
This act of pumping billions of the taxpayers’ funds into the Marriot Hotel without Parliamentary approval is illegal and this illegality must be corrected retrospectively, even if it means putting some before the Courts in a future Government.
This is the ‘Fip’ Motilall saga all over again. It is this same cabal who found all the reasons to justify the reckless financial support for ‘Fip’, only to have that Ponzi scheme unravel like a pack of cards.  Do we have another pack of cards in the making?  Yes we do!
Today, because of the scorched earth policy of the PPP administration and their intransigence on the ‘Fip’ Motilall issue, the taxpayers are in the red, having lost hundreds of millions in this scheme that is best described as white collar fraud.
Yet no one has been charged or held accountable. In light of all this evidence, what are APNU and the AFC doing?
In closing we want to let the people know that the barrier to good governance and the lack of transparency is being done willfully by the regime to secretly use the taxpayers’ money to finance projects that will benefit themselves, their business buddies and relatives.
Our hope is for the sleeping opposition to finally awake and put an end to the blatant abuse of power and misuse of state funds.
Dr. Asquith Rose and Harish S. Singh

The Marriott Hotel is a classic case of the misuse of state funds

Dear Editor,
In light of the ongoing construction of the Marriott Hotel, we again reexamine the issue of the use of state funds without Parliament’s approval and the people’s consent. This is clearly outside of the rule of law and it is an indictment on the government. It is also an insult to the people by the opposition to allow this project to continue without putting up a fight.
Pressure by the opposition must be brought to bear on this corrupt regime to adhere to the laws and rules of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act and by extension the Constitution. Respect for the rule of law and the people’s right to know is a key ingredient of democracy.
If this administration believes in democracy, then it must act accordingly and respect the democratic process.
Both the opposition and the people are being kept in the dark as to who are the financiers of the Marriott Hotel and how much of the taxpayers’ money is being used to build what we believe will be another white elephant. We call on the government to come clean and tell the people the truth.
In the law, the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act states that all public moneys shall be classified as either – a) received moneys; b) moneys in the Consolidated Fund, including the Contingencies Fund (under parliament’s control); c) moneys in an Extra-budgetary Fund (such as NICIL, Forestry Commission etc.); d) drawn moneys; or e) moneys in a Deposit Fund.
All of this money, in whatever shape or form is the people’s money and classified as state funds. In 2011 the estimated amount was $160 billion of which some $55 billion is secretly placed in what is called Extra-Budgetary Funds under the direct control of the Minister of Finance.
Only the Minister has access to this money, not Parliament. This $55 billion is not however included in the National Budget and therefore is not investigated by the opposition in Parliament.
Rather, in a most convoluted manner; using unclear regulations, these funds are actually hidden from the Guyanese public.
The Minister is even on record of stating that “NICIL money belongs to NICIL” and not the people.
This is absolute nonsense. We call on the opposition to put an end to this type of abuse of the people’s money.
But how did NICIL acquire its assets and whose properties did it acquire for peanuts and sell at premium prices?  It’s all in the vesting agreement that we will deal with another day to reveal how the poor and the working class are being robbed blindly by the political directorate.
When the above question is answered it will reveal that NICIL’s money belongs to the people of Guyana and must be in the Consolidated Fund and only a deceitful, devious and dishonest cabal would say otherwise. We believe that it is wrong for the government to hide the people’s money and use it as it pleases. Clearly, this is classical misuse of the state funds and should not be tolerated.
In researching the issue it was found that according to the Section 39 of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act, all these outfits like NICIL must submit to the Parliament quarterly reports on their financial operations.
The Lotto Funds, NICIL, Gold Board, Frequency Management Unit, GGMC, and the Forestry Commission should be providing their respective Ministers with quarterly reports to be submitted to Parliament for public scrutiny.
What Mr. Brassington and NICIL’s Board of Directors are not authorized to do is to allocate these Extra-budgetary Funds for financing risky social and economic development projects such as the Marriott Hotel which is being built at a time when hotel occupancy rate in Guyana is at an all-time low of 46 percent. Mr. Brassington and Dr Singh are just the caretakers of these funds and therefore are not authorized to spend it without parliamentary approval.
And as we have seen, they have ignored the laws prescribed in the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act, violated the people’s trust and have blatantly shown contempt for Parliament.
The opposition should demand that they hand over forthwith a number of pertinent financial records of all the state assets that have been disposed of/sold by the Government through NICIL, and to deposit into the Consolidated Fund all monies from NICIL, save and except cash to pay the operation cost of NICIL for 12 months.
This is what the people expect from the opposition because they elected them to keep a very close eye on how the government spends the taxpayers’ money.
On June 17th, 2012, the government jettisoned Mr. Carl Greenidge’s motion to direct the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh and the junior minister, Mr. Juan Edghill to make all moneys available from the coffers for an independent audit of NICIL.
It is most unfortunate that the majority opposition to date has not been able to make right on Mr. Greenidge’s motion.
Let us be candid, why did the people vote for the opposition AFC and APNU in the first place when from a position of strength they cower to the PPP bullyism?  For them to carry out such a lame duck attempt in Parliament at righting the wrongs committed by the arrogant and contemptuous PPP is politically pathetic?
APNU and the AFC must be aware that they have to be more aggressive in dealing with this political monster if not, they will lose the battle and the trust and confidence placed in them by the people. In other words, they will have no credibility left and this is exactly what the PPP wants.
Why the opposition has not used its majority in Parliament to pass laws to correct past injustices is anyone’s guess?
After one year, the majority opposition has not passed a single law in Parliament to relieve the burden on the poor and the working class. They have presided over what we have called a “do-nothing” Parliament which is about to recess in a few days.
As we stated, there is some $55 billion outside of the Consolidated Funds and to date, some 12 months after the elections all these funds still remain outside and continue to be misused on shady projects without Parliamentary approval.
The leaders of APNU and the AFC should know from past experiences that they cannot and should not trust the dictatorial PPP. The burden is on the combined opposition to expose the wrongs committed by the PPP and to pass laws to prevent them from happening in the future.
This act of pumping billions of the taxpayers’ funds into the Marriot Hotel without Parliamentary approval is illegal and this illegality must be corrected retrospectively, even if it means putting some before the Courts in a future Government.
This is the ‘Fip’ Motilall saga all over again. It is this same cabal who found all the reasons to justify the reckless financial support for ‘Fip’, only to have that Ponzi scheme unravel like a pack of cards.  Do we have another pack of cards in the making?  Yes we do!
Today, because of the scorched earth policy of the PPP administration and their intransigence on the ‘Fip’ Motilall issue, the taxpayers are in the red, having lost hundreds of millions in this scheme that is best described as white collar fraud.
Yet no one has been charged or held accountable. In light of all this evidence, what are APNU and the AFC doing?
In closing we want to let the people know that the barrier to good governance and the lack of transparency is being done willfully by the regime to secretly use the taxpayers’ money to finance projects that will benefit themselves, their business buddies and relatives.
Our hope is for the sleeping opposition to finally awake and put an end to the blatant abuse of power and misuse of state funds.
Dr. Asquith Rose and Harish S. Singh

Stromborn a gee good advice Mr TK. Watch yuh back. Dem people a gat Nuff Nuff Nuffield drug pushas pun dem side. 

We don't have to look too far, there's one for certain on this BB goes by the name of Druggie.

Because you are attempting to chase your tail?

The word on the street is that the PNC/AFC have now become the drug cartel of South America. No wonder Ramjattan, Nigel, Ganger, Nagamootoo and Gerhard got big house and big swiss bank accounts with house in Florida. These fools try to fool the public but the trail of the cocaine leads right back to them. 

Greed is a serious problem. Seems like the man had a payroll business. 

This man is Ramjattan and Nagamotoo buddy. Look how TK is able to travel to Guyana umpteen times, it is no coincidence. EZjet was the AFC/PNC drug mule but the PPP and US put them out of business when they revoked the airline rights to operate. 

Guyana denying any connection to heist gold – Curacao media report

Posted By Stabroek staff On December 14, 2012 @ 5:25 am In Local | 

The PPP’s rebuttals of Ramkarran are laughable

Posted By Stabroek staff On December 14, 2012 @ 5:06 am In Letters | No Comments

Dear Editor,

The recent statements from Mr Ralph Ramkarran and rebuttals of his position by Freedom House in the Chronicle and SN, show how far from President Cheddi’s political ideals the leaders of the PPP have come; Jagan would have been shocked at the divisions and acrimony infesting the party he so assiduously built from scratch in 1950.The very nature of the divisions, where the PPP lost such notables as Ramjattan, Nagamootoo, Ramkarran and many others and where the Civic component, which Jagan built from scratch in 1992, is now virtually non-existent, strongly suggest that Mr Ramkarran’s presentation in SN is closer to the truth than the PPP’s intemperate rebuttals to his positions. And since the corruption indices from international sources were released last week, the PPP government has gone into high gear to denounce not only Ramkarran’s position on corruption, but the international corruption index which places Guyana as a country with a very high level of corruption, especially in government-run agencies, the largest employers in this country and the greatest spenders ($475 million a day, every day of the year). The public should know, in no uncertain terms, especially when the PPP’s statement to SN mentioned President Cheddi over and over, that Jagan never tolerated corruption at any level of governance and in his lifetime fought corruption with every fibre of his body.

We, the citizens of Guyana, cannot be fooled because we smell, hear and see corruption in our society every day of our lives; we smell the stinky water we have to consume, the garbage rotting all over our city and rural environs, the sewage backing up to make our lives miserable and dangerous for our children, the stray animals with their excrement contaminating our environment after plenty money has been spent to correct these abuses against the people of our country. We hear talk about corruption in the streets in our neighbourhoods, and in our homes where citizens lament the fact that Guyana could be such a progressive country if only we had a leader like Mr Obama who fights corruption every day of his political life. We see the facts before our eyes where this government, for the last 20 years, has not indicted or arrested or convicted anyone for corruption, even though cases like the NCN debacle are obvious and clear to most people. Editor, contrast the efforts of President Obama’s administration, which in four years has locked up many, even in the Guyanese diaspora, for corruption and criminal activity. So, Editor, to me, it seems that Mr Ramkarran’s points about corruption and its effects on the PPP are valid and true, especially after the hysterical propaganda of the PPP to debunk the corruption index and Ramkarran’s positions. The questions which Ralph raised about the political schematics of how the PPP is run and its political ideology are areas which I have long criticized, and as Ralph stated, they need to be addressed. The supporters of that party are getting fed up with the lack of real flexibility and new young dynamic leaders coming to the forefront to lead the party instead of the old and tired leadership which is in place with their old, tired communist ideology of centralism, government domination of the economy and placing the private sector in a secondary role when in fact, the private sector should always be the engine of growth. The lack of local elections for the last 15 years is a good example of their communist inclinations and their anti-democratic intentions, and their intra-party democracy is a sham when they cling to ‘democratic centralism,’ a known euphemism for inner party dictatorship, last seen alive and well in the former Soviet Union. Ramkarran is correct in calling for changes in the PPP and I applaud the fire he has found in his belly and which has made him a visionary, something lacking in the present PPP leadership. The other main point of the PPP’s argument against Mr Ramkarran is the racial/ethnic issue concerning voting trends which he elaborated with great care and documentary evidence. I campaigned for the PPP last November and I can tell the public in no uncertain terms, that the crux of the PPP’s political machinery led by Robert Persaud, was to woo every East Indian to vote for the PPP, and many places like Linden were given up for lost. The results of that election clearly pointed to the central fact that the voting patterns were overwhelmingly racial and no propaganda from the ruling party can change that; as a matter of fact, Robert Persaud and the leaders of the PPP expected to win 56% of the total vote with his gyration politics at big rallies, targeting mostly East Indian areas, even busing in mostly Indians from other areas to enlarge the gatherings. The PPP’s rebuttals of Ramkarran on this issue are laughable at best and we, the citizens of Guyana, cannot be fooled by such propaganda; we are quite aware of the real truth and the real truth is exactly what Mr Ramkarran stated in his presentation and which the PPP will pay for with loss of votes as time passes. Editor, we all know the one thing we cannot stop or slow down – and that is time.

Yours faithfully,

Cheddi (Joey) Jagan (Jr)

An impressive and truthful commentary of the real PPP and it's politics.

I thought "Joey" was his real name and "Cheddie" was the wannabe call-name. Joey, Cheddi (Jr) or whatever, his parents did not touch him "politically" with a 10-foot pole.  The Jagan era is over, Joey (Cheddie) cannot change that.

This is proof that Joey is a half-wit. The Obama administration just decided that there would be no criminal prosecutions of the one bank that dominates the global laundering of drug money, despite overwhelming evidence of malfeasance. Obama is made of corruption.

Oh shut up! It is a lot more complicated than that. 

Don't let me catch you complaining about drug trafficking,then. If anyone seriously wanted to stop it, they would go after its Achilles heel -- money laundering. You can jail a street-corner dope peddler and two more will take his place. But if you start jailing a few bankers, you will see startling results. Most people who decry drug trafficking are faking it.

Perhaps this is what you mean by "more complicated." But it really doesn't matter. We all know Obama would never prosecute a banker, no matter what the banker did wrong. And neither would the AFC, which I suspect is actually based in the Caymans.

Oi Henry, you got  anymore of dat there shit you bin smokin, Iman lookin for lil bit?  I got a church social fo attend soon.

Must leh me know 'right

How Guyana became a narco-state

 
Another year and the US Department of State issues another warning in its annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report that “Guyana is a trans-shipment point for South American cocaine on its way to North America and Europe.”
Another month and another report makes international headline news. Another batch of cocaine has been seized by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or the Canada Border Services Agency from a star-apple shipment at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport or another pink suitcase of cocaine sails through Guyana’s porous airport security and lands safely at the John F. Kennedy airport in the United States, for example!

Another week and more cocaine is found in drinking straws at the Timehri airport bond; or cocaine found in fish food; or cocaine found in soap powder; or cocaine-in-coconut milk; or cocaine found in fish, vegetables, fake walls of suitcases, false-soled shoes or in the wheel chair of a crippled pensioner who was about to board a flight to the USA.

Another day and another display of dumb denial by the Minister of Home Affairs who has responsibility for the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit and the Guyana Police Force’s Anti-Narcotics Section.

Guyana, under the People’s Progressive Party Civic administration has become a narco-state. It has become a national warehouse and an international emporium from which narco-traffickers export their merchandise to foreign markets. From the start of Bharrat Jagdeo’s tenure as President, the US Department of State’s International Narcotics Control Strategy Report has been making increasingly critical reports of the administration’s failure to suppress the narcotics trade.
The INCSR has routinely criticised the Administration’s inability to control the country’s porous borders that allow traffickers to import and transport narcotics without resistance.

It is a well-known fact that cocaine continues to come into the country through the unpatrolled borders of the hinterland and the rivers of the coastland. Light aircraft land at any of the sixty isolated airstrips or make airdrops into rivers where the drug is retrieved by local retailers. The administration, however, has never seen it fit to give CANU and the Police the resources or personnel to reach those places.

The INCSR, for the first time in 2004, cited the administration’s “lack of political will” as a contributory factor to the continuing ineffectiveness of the national counter-narcotics programme. The INCSR, since then, has focused on the remarkable relationship between the inactivity of the administration’s counter-narcotics agencies on the one hand and the vitality of the narco-trafficking and money-laundering cartels, on the other.

The United States Embassy some time ago estimated that narco-traffickers’ annual earnings were equivalent to 20 per cent or more of Guyana’s reported GDP. This enormous wealth pays the wages of armed gangs, purchases political influence and bribes law-enforcement officials in order to protect narco-enterprises. Money-launderers associated with narco-traffickers distort the domestic economy by pricing their goods and services below market rates thereby undermining legitimate businesses and stultifying the local manufacturing sector which cannot compete with contraband goods.

Clement Rohee, on being appointed Minister of Home Affairs six years ago, swore to be “tough on drug lords.” Like his predecessors in that Ministry, talk was cheap. The first, Feroze Mohamed, inherited a plan called Guyana’s Strategy for Dealing with the Drug Problem but never implemented it;   Jairam Ronald Gajraj introduced a second plan called the National Drug Strategy Master Plan, 1997-2000 but never implemented it; and Gail Teixeira introduced the National Drug Strategy Master Plan, 2005-2009. Clement Rohee inherited the Teixeira NDSMP in 2006 but, again, never fully implemented it.

Rohee has not been able to dismantle the rich narco-trafficking cartels or to disentangle the narcotics trade from the political connections which have helped them to thrive. Rohee’s main contribution has been to establish an impotent Task Force on Narcotics and Illicit Weapons and to add to the pile of paper reports in the Ministry.

Narco-trafficking is not a victimless crime. It is the force fuelling this country’s high rates of armed robbery, murder, violence and gun-related crimes. There are now three armed robberies in Guyana every day. Narco-trafficking and gun-running are driving away the local educated élite, scaring foreign investors, undermining economic growth, impeding social development and threatening human safety.
A former Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Georgetown once pointed out that “it is clear that the drug-trade is pumping huge amounts of money into Guyana’s economy…but it is also pumping huge amounts of violence and corruption into Guyana.” Former Head of the Police Criminal Investigation Department Assistant Commissioner Heeralall Makhanlall once warned that ‘execution-type killings’ are suspected to be related to the narcotics trade.

Guyana continues to pay a high price for having become a narco-state – a dubious distinction earned by dint of the determination of ministers who have not demonstrated that they had “the political will” to combat narcotics-trafficking.

Guyana, with it's small population and large geography, is a natural and easy target to become a transit point.  There are limits on what the GoG can do to control this.  The law enforcement resources are busy fighting crime in the populated areas and lack the manpower and mobility to cover the whole nation. How come Mexico cannot control their trade, how come the source nation still is Columbia with all it's own, and the US resources, bearing down.  Afganistan's opium trade rebounded even with the presence of 140k US troops and all the military assets made available.

The drug trade is a big issue in Guyana and many other nations and it should not be politicized.

the drug trade could slow down,if donald fire rohee and put some one who can do the job.my advise is hire someone from overseas with military experience.and there is lot of guyanese living abroad who have this experience.

I see, how come the 140k US military in Afgan could not do it, how come the US military and ATF operatives in Mexico and Columbia cannot do it.  As I said, that large unguarded territory and it's proximity to the open ocean are big factors which no "expert" can overcome.

You cannot just fire someone based on "maybe".

An independent and professional police force is kryptonite to the PPP . . . their most powerful 'associates' [not to mention ministers] would be in jail if such an animal were created

they like it just the way it is [as planned] . . . inept, compromised and underresourced

i know what you saying,just wishing

Since Ramdeo is 35, he is a bona fide product of the PPP/C Inc.  

It is senseless to attempt to defeat the drug trade using military means, when you can so easily cripple it, simply by closing a few of TK's beloved drug money laundromats.

all drugs leaving guyana do so from the airport or by boat in GT its not how it comes in that matter but how it leave,like the gold bars,guyana do not have much traffic by air or sea a good police force cannot control.

I am convinced you are an incorrigibly malicious as well as moronic man. TK is not laundering money and you do not know his investment strategy except for the little he referenced here tangentially. We however know the open activity of a drug culture in Guyana. Many known business people are fronts for the drug business and if the racketeering and income tax laws were used they would most certainly be shackled. A military style taskforce of trained personnel has to be in place. The drug trade is not simply an exchange of money business. It is a violent business and fighting it means comprehensive coverage from surveillance to to interdiction to a functioning judicial system and these must be protected from intimidation by agents of the drug culture.

If this is true, it requires some further consideration.

I'm still waiting to hear what drugs you're on to make such stupid posts. I need to act stupid sometimes, so tell me nuh man.

The police force is very independent, they enforce the law under a PPP govt yet the vote overwhelmingly PNC.  What you hoping for ain't going to happen, so get used to it.

now, THAT'S what u call the PPP smartman concept of an "independent" GY police force . . . necessity is truly the mother of invention

no word from Freedom House on "professional" yet, eh? . . . y'all take your time, arrite

what's the going rate on stupidity these days, eh bai?