Chairman of the Board of the Guyana Wildlife Management Authority Dr Keshav Mangal says former Head of the Wildlife Unit, Khalawan (only name) allowed McNeal Enterprises to export dolphins on his own accord, since he (Mangal) did not know of the exports.
Khalawan was terminated from his post last week after he was found responsible for authorising a shipment of dolphins on behalf of McNeal Enterprises, a company owned by Presidential Advisor on Empowerment, Odinga Lumumba. The company, better known for promoting boxing matches and beauty pageants, had no licence to trade in wildlife as required under the law and questions are being raised as to how it was approved for wildlife exports.
A statement from the Guyana Wildlife Management Authority said on Friday that it had found that Khalawan had "exceeded his mandate... and caused various species of wildlife to be exported without requisite approvals and consistently kept this information from the Board."
Dr Mangal did concede that he knew of and approved the export of giant anteaters which are on a list of restricted species. But he says it was under extenuating circumstances and as part of a one-off shipment.
In a letter sent to another section of the media, Dr Mangal said that on April 7, Khalawan visited his office making representation on behalf of a group of exporters whom he said had a large order of animals to be exported to the Czech Republic. According to the letter, the order included 126 monkeys, 600 caimans and four giant anteaters. He said that when the zoo in the Czech Republic was told that the giant anteaters could not be exported, it sent a fax cancelling the whole order. He said that at that time Khalawan said the exporters would lose "large sums of money" they had spent in order to accumulate the animals. According to Dr Mangal, Khalawan said the matter was urgent. "In Mr Khalawan's presence, I contacted Mr Kellawan Lall, Secretary to the Board and he advised that permission be given but it must be put in writing and only as a special concession in view of the above circumstances," Dr Mangal's letter said. He added that in view of the urgency of the matter he then wrote a memo on his office stationery, which said that permission was granted for the export of the four giant anteaters by Animal Farm (the exporter) to the Czech Republic. It stated too: "Kindly note that no further applications for the export of giant anteaters will be allowed until certain procedural matters are finalised."
He said the decision to halt the export of anteaters and towa towa birds had been made sometime ago but repeated at the Authority's Board meeting held on March 22, during which members of the Board questioned Khalawan. "After lengthy discussion Khalawan apologised to the Board for the export of giant anteaters without permission from the Board," Dr Mangal's letter said. Dr Mangal said the Board accepted only an apology from Khalawan "since the matter was being investigated."
Meanwhile, Khalawan's attorney, Khemraj Ramjattan, said officials of the Office of the President are not letting his client, Khalawan into his office to access files that he has on his computer and floppy disks. He said Khalawan is at the moment trying to get minutes of meetings and other supporting documents to substantiate his claim that he was directed by Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon to go ahead and give permits to McNeal Enterprises.
He said he was preparing legal action on his client's behalf for the termination of service on the grounds that he was being made the "fall guy" for several government officials who had given him both verbal and written authority. He said too that because Khalawan was given this authority he granted the permission for the shipment of giant anteaters and towa towa birds.
According to Ramjattan, Khalawan is adamant that Luncheon gave him the order for the dolphins to be exported and cites a letter from Luncheon to that effect. That letter was sent to Lall and copied to Khalawan and said that Lall should "consider" exports of dolphins under certain circumstances.
Ramjattan said officials of the Office of the President told Khalawan that he was being disciplined for the export of the dolphins, but when he got to the disciplinary panel, he was also asked about the anteaters and the towa towa birds. In addition to this, Ramjattan said that they denied Khalawan the right to have his attorney present for the disciplinary hearing.
Ramjattan said his client wants the opportunity to fully respond to all of the allegations against him, since he is of the opinion that Office of the President officials have something to hide. According to Ramjattan, his client said his termination letter mentioned that he was responsible for the illegal anteater and towa towa shipments. Khalawan reportedly stated at the hearing that he was not prepared to deal with matters other than those relating to the export of dolphins. Ramjattan said the officials at the Office of the President expanded the terms of reference on what his client was being disciplined for.
Ramjattan also said closing down the wildlife trade is unjustifiable and that the section of the Office of the President dealing with wildlife is what needs to be closed down and the officials sent home. Ramjattan added that his client is to sue the Head of the Presidential Secretariat for wrongful dismissal.
As a result of the furore, President Bharrat Jagdeo threatened to shut down the wildlife industry. Louis Martin, Head of the Guyana Parrot and Reptile Society, told Stabroek News yesterday that President Jagdeo's threat was most unfortunate. He said that a lot of transactions are already in an advanced stage around the world. He added that thousands of persons in the wildlife industry do an honest job and they should not be made to suffer for the wrong-doings of a few. He said the government must find ways of dealing with the small group of delinquent exporters, since many more people are dependent on trading in wildlife for a living. He said that there is no need for the industry to be shut down.
Dr Mangal added that the Board would have to advertise for a new Head of the Wildlife Unit but not before certain clear procedures are instituted. He said that in the past, there was no operational procedure in place for the running of the authority.
Asked whether he felt that the unit should be removed from under the purview of the Office of the President, Dr Mangal said that there must be some ministerial control of the unit, in this case the Head of the Presidential Secretariat.
Reports are that Lumumba's company paid $19M in export levy fees to the government for the export of 25 dolphins. However, so far only 11 dolphins have left Guyana and these were exported in May. On the export documents, McNeal Enterprises is listed as the exporter, but when contacted by this newspaper, Lumumba said his company only facilitated the process on behalf of clients, whom he declined to name.
Luncheon said that all he did was advise Khalawan under what conditions the exports should be done, and not give permission for those exports to take place.
A non-detrimental study found that the bottle nose dolphin in minimum abundance of 5,533 and recommended a harvest rate of 55.3 per annum. This was then communicated to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), which was to make an assessment of the report which Guyana was prepared to wait on.