ATTORNEY-at-law Khemraj Ramjattan said that a thorough investigation into the purported irregularities in the wildlife trade would reveal the involvement of high-level Government officials.
Ramjattan has been retained by the General Manager of the Wildlife Authority, Khalawan, who has been sent on leave to facilitate an investigation by the Authority’s Board of Directors.
Contacted by Kaieteur News yesterday, Ramjattan stated that the investigation would show just cause why it should have been higher Government officials who should have been sent home and not his client.
He said the recent episode concerning the shipment of dolphins shows that some officials in the Office of the President run the wildlife trade as though it is their personal business interest.
Ramjattan disclosed that there is documentation at the Authority that would exonerate Khalawan and he expressed the hope that they are preserved.
The lawyer stated that he would not want to comment further at this time but would blow the entire facts into the open when enough evidence is gathered.
This is not the first time Ramjattan has crossed swords with the Office of the President, particularly its head, Dr. Roger Luncheon.
Ramjattan, who was expelled from the ruling party earlier this year, was the lawyer for the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) when Dr. Luncheon had ordered a dismissed GFC officer to be paid a hefty sum of money a few years ago.
Ramjattan has argued that Dr. Luncheon was wrong to intervene since GFC was an autonomous agency.
The investigation at the Wildlife Authority will examine the species exported for this year and the amount of levy paid to the Authority. Special attention would be paid to the export of dolphins and anteaters.
These two species are said to be among the more lucrative in the trade.
Just last month, a high level Government official exported a shipment of 11 bottlenose dolphins to Mexico.
The international body which governs the wildlife trade, CITES, has said that it is investigating the export of bottlenose dolphins to Mexico.
Kaieteur News understands that Guyana has exported more than the 25 dolphins which was the quota set by CITES for this year.
Local exporters have complained about the special treatment meted out to particular exporters by the Wildlife Authority.
According to information reaching Kaieteur News, the Authority’s Board has to give permission for an exporter to ship wildlife in excess of the quota allotted to them.
This permission is granted to certain exporters, while the applications for quota extension by the majority are ignored.
In this process, CITES sets out a national quota for the various species that are being exported.
From this national quota, the Authority would then approve the local quotas as per application by the exporters.
Exporters have also complained about the perceived favoritism of the Board to approve the export of the high-priced dolphins and anteaters to particular exporters.
The alleged exchange of exporters’ confidential information to competing exporters by the Authority’s staff is also of concern.
Dr. Luncheon has said that the “revenue leakage” at the Authority is not of so much a concern as the impact on the trade should it be found that Guyana has infracted CITES regulations.
If proven, this could lead to the suspension of the local wildlife trade and to hundreds of millions in revenue losses.
The administration of the Wildlife Authority has been embroiled in controversy over the years since the unit was removed from under the management of the Ministry of Agriculture in the 1990s and placed first to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) then to Office of the President.
- The Head of the EPA was removed from office over previous irregularities and one officer was placed before the court for missing funds.