Following Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon's assertion that the FBI had submitted a report to the police on the April 12 kidnapping of a US diplomat, a US embassy official last week confirmed that no such report was handed over.
The official explained that the FBI team which came to Guyana to assist the police in the their investigations, said that no report was necessary as the team worked in collaboration with the police and exchanged information almost on a daily basis.
Local sources close to the investigation however were derisive in their comments about the collaboration with the local police. They said that the diplomat, Steve Lesniak, was not made available to the police nor were they able to interview Trudy Wong-You, a local employee at the embassy who had reportedly handed over the ransom which allowed for Lesniak's release. Lesniak and Wong-You left Guyana unknown to the police, and the sources say that the immigration officers at the airport received no instructions to prevent Wong-You from leaving.
Armed men kidnapped Lesniak while he was playing an early morning round of golf at the Lusignan Golf Course. His kidnapping sparked off a massive army and police search of Buxton and the surrounding villages but they were unable to locate the house where he was being held despite his being paraded through the streets of Buxton.
His kidnappers demanded a US$300,000 ransom but Stabroek News understands that he was released after the payment of a much smaller sum.