PNC/R vows not to rest until Carroll allegations probed
Stabroek News
August 30, 2002
The PNC/R has vowed not to rest until the Thomas Carroll US visa sale ring affair, which alleges complicity of Guyanese policemen and government officials, is properly and justly resolved locally.
Nothing, the party said, would satisfy the requirement of cleaning up this affair but a thorough investigation of the scandal by competent agencies and the trial of those who were implicated in the affair.
Speaking at the party's regular press briefing at Congress Place, Sophia yesterday, Central Executive Committee member Dr Faith Harding said that President Bharrat Jagdeo's claim that he was "looking into the matter was ludicrous and his reference to the (former) American ambassador (James Mack) to back up his claim is an insult to the gentleman and denigrating of his office and the country he represents."
Harding said that documents from the court hearing in Chicago, USA made it clear that allegations of complicity including the use of Guyanese policemen as `hit men' and enforcers for the racket were stated baldly and without any possibility of misunderstanding. A Guyanese police officer pleaded guilty and was jailed for his part in the affair, she noted.
Saying that the PNC/R has irrefutable evidence that the FBI was working on the case in the country for two years before the matter was made public, Harding said that neither Home Affairs Minister, Ronald Gajraj, nor the President could claim that they were not aware "of the happenings." They cannot hide behind vague ramblings about inconclusive evidence or that they are still investigating, she added.
The party, she said, finds the limits to which the government will go to protect disreputable and criminal members of the police force "truly amazing and incomprehensible."