Denied access to the exchequer, Opposition still tries to rob treasury of millions

MEMBERS of the leadership of the joint Opposition have been publicly exposed, time and again, in corrupt and fraudulent practices to acquire money and/or properties; so one wonders what would happen to Guyana if they ever win an election and get their hands on the treasury – taxpayers’ money that they claim to be zealously guarding from the very Government that amassed that money through prudent spending and clever fiscal innovations.But they are not prepared to wait for the unlikely event of their ever attaining the highest executive office in the land; they have devised ways of robbing the exchequer even while they are out of that lofty office.

Their forays into criminality and/or underhanded, dishonest actions to defraud and acquire cash and/or kind, especially political leverage are well-recorded, but we will rehash some of their ventures in this editorial.

AFC chairman Nigel Hughes was reportedly found guilty of tax evasion last year which, in a USA jurisdiction, would have earned him serious jail time. (http://img2.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif)
The Amaila Falls and consequential cheap electricity for Guyana were stymied by the joint Opposition; and most vociferous were Cathy Hughes and current AFC Chairman Nigel Hughes. The contractors and investors were publicly vilified and harangued until they fled. Then the truth was revealed: husband and wife duo, while publicly fighting against this vital initiative to produce cheap energy for the nation, were secretively drawing big bucks from the contractor and investor; yet their antics in and out of Parliament killed the project dead.

Cathy Hughes had been contracted as PR consultant to contractor “Fip” Motilall, while husband Nigel Hughes had been appointed legal representative of Sithe Global, the investment company that had been awarded the contract to build the Amaila Falls hydro, which their party, the AFC, bitterly opposed.
Hughes has been implicated in property scam allegations over the building that houses the Sidewalk Cafe. Currently, he has been accused of another fraudulent land deal, in which he is alleged to have defrauded Mayfield French, the owner of May’s Primary and Secondary Schools of millions in a seeming scam that is imperilling over 300 students, due to write exams shortly.

Hoodwinking for profit and/or benefits their trusting party members and clients; and the general public seems to be the natural predisposition of opposition leaders; and this sanctimonious, hypocritical clique love to accuse others of corruption; that is, taking their “miasmic matter” and daubing it on others, a trait that former President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo termed “The Corbin Syndrome”.

As was noted before, all their hypocritical grandstanding and sanctimonious rhetoric are aimed at only one goal: and that is to access the powers of Government and, as a natural progression, the national treasury. Failing that, they have devised clever ways of extracting millions of taxpayers’ money out of the treasury; so let us take a look at a few of their gimmicks.
An accused murderer was tortured in a police station and of course the Opposition was in full cry to denounce the police and the Government. But while the police is allowed a certain amount of force, torture is not sanctioned and so the offending police ranks were rightly penalized.
So the alleged murderer was not even brought to trial and his purported victim never received justice, because the Opposition made him the victim instead. AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan, in his saintly avatar, promised to get “justice” for what they termed “The tortured teen”; so he was no longer “the accused murderer”.

Ramjattan said he was working pro bono, giving free service to a poor boy so that he could secure a future. Free? After the collective Opposition created a hullaballoo in the media, with every player, most likely including jurors and presiding officers prejudiced toward the boy, who was made to seem a victim of the state instead of a young criminal who should have been tried and punished, the verdict would have been a foregone conclusion.

Fast-track to the Linden unrest in 2012, when Opposition supporters were again instigated by their leaders,including Nigel Hughes, with three of them shot by persons unknown.

After demanding and obtaining a commission of inquiry that cost the nation millions and bringing in an “expert” to prove the police culpable of the killings under the direction of Minister Rohee, all their claims and allegations were debunked, even by their own “expert”; but yet, inexplicably, the Commission awarded millions of taxpayers’ dollars to people who were breaking the law and committing all kinds of atrocities.

As Ramjattan did earlier, it is being surmised that their lawyer, Nigel Hughes, received a huge payout for his representation; so again people breaking the law were allegedly rewarded at taxpayers’ expense instead of being punished.

Incidentally, dependants of a policeman killed while on duty receive $1 million in compensation.
Their ploys to drive investors away and derail Guyana’s socio-economic development under a PPP/C watch is now legendary; and recently, one of their supporters, represented by Nigel Hughes of course, made some difficult-to-believe accusations of sexual molestation against an investor of this country, laying a groundwork for a legal suit and/or compensation package of millions. Opposition supporters beware, because soon private sector employers would no longer hire you, thanks to the crafty schemes of your leaders and their accomplices to defraud their bosses through blackmail and scams, with millions sought in compensation packages.

Another criminal act allegedly committed by Nigel Hughes was his illegal removal of evidence from a murder scene, when he admitted that he removed the surveillance tape even before the police had completed their investigations, which should have earned him disbarment and jail time; but he seems untouchable by law.

A charge of jury tampering should have been laid against him on the matter of a case in which he was pro bono defence attorney, when his client of years was foreman of the jury – a fact that he never divulged to the court in which a self-confessed murder in a nightmarish killing spree where even babies were blasted to death as they lay asleep was being tried. This again was another highly criminal act, yet he was never sanctioned by the court, or by his peers in the Bar Association.
Now he is trying to get millions of taxpayers’ money through allegations of sodomy allegedly committed on a criminal with a history of armed robbery, who is reputed to live an alternative lifestyle.
Subsequent to Chairman of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) and retired Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Cecil Kennard, stating that there is a difficulty at this time to prove that Colwyn Harding had indeed been sodomised, Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, noted that persons — especially those pursuing a political agenda – ought to exercise greater care and circumspection in matters of this nature, and should refrain from making premature judgments, which seems to be a dangerous trend developing.
“We cannot sacrifice due process (and) natural justice at the altar of political expediency. This is precisely what many persons did in this matter, including the Alliance For Change (AFC). These persons rendered judgment, computed their own compensation, and are demanding that the state pay this compensation at the sum of $100M taxpayers’ money. This is the height of recklessness and irresponsibility!” he declared.
But the learned AG was being circumspect in his language. To make allegations that are clearly based on a lie to earn money – millions of taxpayers’ dollars, is outright fraud. As Nandlall noted, in their haste to pass judgment, the judgemental persons ignored reality. He said, “Take, for example, the sheer improbability of a baton being inserted in someone’s anus without him needing medical treatment for nearly two months, as well as the fact that the victim of such a violent assault was able to walk, attend court, and have bowel movements for two months without any apparent problems…”
It certainly is highly improbable that one’s intestines can be perforated through the anal cavity and still not show or complain of any discomfort or pain up to two months after the alleged act of brutal sodomy with a large baton, without any medical examination or intervention, with the alleged victim engaging in his normal activities, including the expulsion of faeces through that same cavity – two months with no complaint, when that purported victim has suffered a hernia, all so that he can claim $100 million compensation for such an act. This smells, because perforation of one’s intestines without immediate attention could/would lead to peritonitis and certain death within a short span of time, measured in hours, certainly not months.
The allegation surfaced only when Nigel Hughes was contracted to represent him in his criminal matter of robbery under arms: like the case of “The tortured teen”, this would make Harding a victim of police brutality, which would automatically demolish his criminal charges and make him a millionaire, with his lawyer receiving a hefty share of the payout – all at the expense of taxpayers.
And despite local medical experts – private and public – testifying that there is no evidence to support Harding’s allegations and justify his claim of $100 million of taxpayers’ dollars, as is being pursued by Nigel Hughes, they brought in one of their (in)famous “experts”, who reports that there is veracity in the accusations of sodomy with a baton. One wonders how that doctor is so convinced that Harding was roughly sodomised by a policeman wielding a baton and not one of his “clients”. Be that as it may, Government needs to take steps that the treasury is not raped anymore by members of the Opposition and their “clients”.