After spending the weekend in the lockups following the discovery of an unlicensed gun at his Ireng Street, Bel Air Park home, Swiss House Cambio boss Farouk Razac appeared in the Georgetown Magistrate's Court yesterday and was released on $1M bail by Magistrate Gordon Gilhuys.
Also appearing before Gilhuys was a 24-year-old North Ruimveldt woman who was arrested in a separate raid on the same day. Rhonda Gomes faced five charges including possession of a large quantity of cocaine along with grenades and ammunition and was refused bail.
Razac's wife, Carolan Lynch who was recently crowned Mrs South America is jointly charged with her husband. However, she was absent from court yesterday and her attorney indicated that she was still hospitalised.
Razac was charged with two counts of unlawful possession of ammunition and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm, both without lawful authority. He was not required to plead to the charges.
It is alleged that on November 10 at Bel Air, Georgetown, Razac had in his possession four 9 mm magazines, being components and parts of a firearm. He is also alleged to have had one Beretta automatic pistol and 120 9 mm rounds of ammunition without lawful authority.
Appearing on Razac's behalf were attorneys-at-law Nigel Hughes in association with Roger Yearwood, Ronald Burch-Smith and Mark Waldron. Hughes, in his bail application, told the court that Razac resided at 106 Ireng Place, and had been living there for a number of years. He said he was the owner of one of the largest cambios in the country. The police, he said, took away US$315,000 from Razac but they were contending that they took more. Hughes said they took the money to shut down his client's business and as such Razac was unable to supply his customers with their money. He continued that Razac had never been convicted of any crime in Guyana, contributed significantly to taxes and worked in his cambio from 6 am to 7 pm. He added that there was no evidence that the weapon found had been used in the commission of any crime.
Further, because of the threats to his client's life he had to retain body guards. He said that Razac had become a threat because of the success of his business. The attorney said his client was not a flight risk since he had assets here and his wife was hospitalised. No prints had been lifted off the weapon to connect his client to it, Hughes said, the police have not questioned Razac's bodyguards and no purpose could be served by his client's continued detention.
He added also that Razac was a significant sponsor of football events in this country, including the Kashif and Shanghai tournament.
Turning to Lynch, the number two accused, Hughes said when she was arrested she was in a healthy condition and within 24 hours even the police thought it necessary to have her hospitalised. She has not yet been discharged, he said, and he could only speculate as to what would have caused her to become ill.
Lynch, he said, had honoured this country by placing in the Mrs World Pageant and only two weeks ago hosted a successful event at Le Meridien Pegasus. Her absence from court, the counsel stated, was involuntary and there was no credible reason why she should not be admitted to bail. He asked that bail be granted to Lynch on the undertaking that she would come to court. He respectfully asked for bail for both Lynch and her husband.
Police Prosecutor Lloyd Thomas asked that bail be refused for Razac on the grounds of the seriousness of the offence and the possibility that he might not return for his trial. It was indicated to the court that police indeed had US$315,000 for Razac.
The magistrate after listening to both sides granted bail to Razac but said that since Lynch was not brought before him he could not grant her bail.
Curious onlookers had packed the courtroom to get a glimpse of the man who made the headlines following his arrest and that of his beauty queen wife, Lynch. As he was being escorted to the courtroom around 2 pm, onlookers shouted to him to hide his face from the cameras.
But yesterday was not Razac's first appearance in the magistrate's court, on May 30, 1996, Razac and businessman Bramhanand Nandalall had been jointly charged with conspiracy to traffic in narcotics.
It was alleged that between October 27, 1995 and December 16 the two conspired together with others unknown to traffic in five kilos of cocaine within the precincts of Georgetown.
Nandalall was out of the country when the charge was instituted. He was later arrested and granted bail in the sum of $1M along with Razac.
According to police reports back then Razac's arrest was part of a continued joint investigation by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Guyana Police Force, which led to the arrest of seven persons including a Colombian and a policeman.
The seven, according to the police, also including a woman, were arrested at the end of the joint anti-narcotics investigation. They were charged with conspiring with others unknown to import 50 kilos of cocaine into Guyana. Police had said then that their investigations targeted suspected drug organizations in Guyana and Canada that were importing Colombian cocaine into Guyana, through Brazil and Venezuela and re-exporting it to Canada.
Meanwhile, Gomes, 24, of 3009 North Ruimveldt who appeared just before Razac was charged with unlawful possession of arms and cocaine. It is alleged that on November 10 at the North Ruimveldt residence she had in her possession 10 kg, 999 grammes of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking; three fragmentation grenades and one concussion grenade, all being explosives without lawful authority. She is also accused of having two firearms, one AK-47 automatic rifle and one automatic rifle number 008187, 19 7.62 magazines and one pistol magazine without lawful authority.
Gomes also allegedly had 1,192 rounds 7.62 x 39 ammunition, 245 rounds 9mm ammunition, 77 rounds .38 special ammunition, 14 rounds of .30 ammunition, 35 rounds .32 ammunition, one round .22 ammunition and 47 12-gauge cartridges without lawful authority. Gomes pleaded not guilty to the first two charges and was not required to plead to the other three.
Since her arrest, Hughes said, lawyers and her family had been frustrated in their efforts to see her. He stated that according to information received Gomes was subjected to unorthodox interrogation by male members of the police force. He spoke of being denied the opportunity to speak with Gomes and that she was removed from the East La Penitence police station and taken to another station. When they finally located her she indicated that her orientation had been significantly disturbed and she was not aware of why she was arrested or how long she had been in custody.
He then asked for an early date for Gomes saying that every accused was presumed innocent. Her trial he said was unlikely to start in less than 24 months and he assumed that under the circumstances the magistrate would consider bail.
Magistrate Gilhuys refused her bail on all charges and transferred her case and Razac's to Court One for November 20.
Meanwhile Razac's wife who was hospitalised days after being arrested along with him, could be discharged today.
Stabroek News was reliably informed yesterday afternoon that the recently crowned Mrs South America is doing much better and that her husband had earlier paid her a visit.
When this newspaper visited the Georgetown Public Hospital where Lynch is hospitalised, her bed was behind a green screen. Through a crease in the screen, Lynch was seen having an animated conversation with the policewoman guarding her. Lynch who had her hair pulled back in one was sitting on her bed looking very relaxed.
Reports are that around 9 pm on Saturday, Lynch was rushed to the public medical institution after complaining about stomach upset and vomiting. Stabroek News was told that the woman had made similar complaints when she was held on Friday.