A dangerous job to take

Two weeks ago, Nazima Raghubir, on behalf of International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), an international body that monitors attacks on media practitioners worldwide, interviewed me for an update on two attacks on me; in May 2010, and August 2012. During the interview I made a confession to Ms. Raghubir, and I saw her facial reaction. It appeared to me that she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

We were on the topic of fear and personal security, and I did say to her that you cannot predict how the power-holders will react based on what you write, so I am careful all the time with my security. Then came the unusual emanation from me. I candidly told her that because of security I do not investigate the State’s overlapping relationship with the world of narcotics and money-laundering.

I saw the surprise on her face and she did opine that such journalism is needed in Guyana. My explanation was that in a country like Guyana, media people can easily lose their lives in such journalistic crusades. To say that we in the media don’t know about drug trafficking and money-laundering would be a colossal lie. But I believe that pursuing those angles and writing about them could endanger the people who put their byline on such stories.

I think such a pursuit should be a joint effort of the private media, but whether competitors would want to go that route is questionable. This is the pattern all over the world. Each media house wants their scoops.

My advice to journalists is not to use their bylines and to let the investigation be done by the newspaper rather than by individual media practitioners. This brings me to another angle of security. With a groundswell for a proper anti-money laundering Bill and Transparency Institute asking for a functioning Integrity Commission, the question obviously turns to the independent investigator.

Would I encourage any person in Guyana to accept the occupation of the chief detective for money-laundering and to lead the Integrity Commission? I am definitely not in a mood to answer my own question. This is a very violent society, where police powers are circumscribed by political intrusion. The police are not inclined to go after powerful money men, and powerful politicians have some deadly connections.

Enter Maria van Beek. During her probe into the CLICO affair as Commissioner of Insurance, van Beek discovered something or somebody that almost led to her death. From the way the bullet penetrated her chest, it could not have been a warning shot. I believe luck was on Mrs. van Beek’s side.

I have heard some frightening stories about what Mrs. van Beek stepped upon, but I am going to leave it at that. But the van Beek case should be seriously studied by the persons who want to probe money-laundering and research those who are in violation of the Integrity Act.

This is not to say that Guyana does not have brave men and women who will decline to do their nationalist duties. I am absolutely sure that if we get an independent anti-money laundering unit and a decent Integrity Commission, many names will come forward. My role here is to describe the environment we live in and how safe it is for such persons to do their work without endangering their lives.

Both the media community and opposition circles have indictable information on some extremely powerful figures in Guyana. Will these people allow an anti-money laundering investigator to track down their questionable wealth? If your answer is yes, then I would like to hear your take on what happened to Maria van Beek.

An immigration judge in Canada declared that he was granting refugee status to a fourteen-year-old Guyanese girl, because he felt that to send her back to Guyana would endanger her life. She accused two businessmen of raping her and she saw the high-powered politician who drove into the compound while she was being driven out.

My belief is that even if the Government relents and agrees to an independent tsar to monitor the washing of money in this country, that person is not going to last too long at his/her desk. The Guyanese people do not even see the tip of the money iceberg which takes in a huge chunk of the economy.

There are powerful humans in Guyana that have long tentacles. The media know who they are. The opposition has their names. Why do you think the person who sits in his/her office tracking down these underworld captains will not see those tentacles at their front door?