–
Private jet, private money, private space in a drug country
November 29, 2014 | By KNews | Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
The US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is a strange outfit. Only God can actually tell a Guyanese how the DEA operates with regard to its surveillance in Guyana. There are times you want to believe that Guyana is not on the DEA radar at all, or that the DEA has little interest in extirpating drug trafficking and money laundering in this country. It could be that the DEA is not the formidable and competent organization that the world thinks it is.
In Guyana, the average limer across a “110th Street” (a term in local lingo, taken from the famous Anthony Quinn movie on police racism and drug trafficking in the ghetto titled, across 110th Street), the inner core of Georgetown, knows who the drug traffickers and money launderers are.
Some of the “boys” across a “110th street” are sometimes picked up by the drug traffickers to do dirty work, like one of them who set fire to a building that the champion’s friend needed to be erased so he could have the land to build. Days after, the arsonist was murdered. Dead men tell no tales.
It is not only the boys across a “110th street” who know who the drug traffickers are but the average journalist and the average Guyanese too. Some of these people do not hide their activities because they know they are protected not only by powerful politicians but state bureaucrats. Most Georgetown people know about costly humongous buildings in the centre of the city being put up by one person who from all appearances lacks a history of capitalist accumulation.
It is possible that the DEA does not know these details, facts and stories? If the answer is ‘yes’ then the DEA, based in the US Embassy, is not interested. The facts are out there. How come the DEA doesn’t have them? Does the DEA know that a very top man in CANU was (maybe is) one of Roger Khan’s best friends and shared a Queenstown residence with Khan? Did the DEA know that a private jet, owned by a private citizen had private space at the Timehri airport?
It turned out that the owner of that jet would fly in and out of that hanger bypassing airport security, customs and immigration. That is a paradisiacal avenue for drug trafficking, money-laundering and back track operations. It is simply incredible the depth to which this country has fallen that a private citizen can fly an aircraft in and out of the country with absolutely no check from any of the state security agencies.
What is disturbing is that there wasn’t an official from CANU, immigration, airport security and customs that saw the nationalist obligation of leaking that information to the press and opposition parties. The obvious question is; has Mr. Lall been doing his cash transfers before prior to when he was caught this week?
Now that he has been arrested, state employees are sharing information about Lall, an obligation they neglected to do before. For example, this columnist was told by a most reliable source that Lall flew a certain controversial Minister and the owner of a hotel, a close friend of Mr. Ramotar to Suriname last July on that very jet. Lall, it appears, is a buddy friend of some very powerful politicians.
This same hotel owner is nearing his completion of a large hotel in north Georgetown and the casino, it is alleged, would be the jurisdiction of Lall. Interestingly, only four casinos are allowed in the legislation and they have been allotted already. It means there will have to be amendment to the law to allow a fifth licence. And it appears that Lall hobnobs with the right Cabinet personnel that will facilitate him.
Is it Lall’s money that US authorities found? My opinion is it isn’t Lall’s money, that Lall may be a front for others. The Lall arrest could see dominoes falling here depending on how the US authorities deal with Lall. If the US suspects money-laundering, then Lall could hold the key as to who are the main players in Guyana. If Lall is offered a deal like Roger Khan, like Captain Clark, he could talk.
But to the Guyanese people, will it make a difference? Roger Khan confessed. But no dramatic arrest in Guyana followed. Captain Clarke did not only confess to the District Attorney, but the information he shared earned him refugee status so he was allowed to stay in the US with his family. If Lall is jailed, life in Guyana will go on with private people with private jets owning private space on public land being protected by public officials.
–
waltieainsworth 