Peter Morgan to be extradited to U.S.
By Andre Bagoo
Guyana Chronicle
May 1, 2007
(NEWSDAY) -- A GUYANESE businessman, alleged to be “heavily involved” in the international drug trade, was yesterday ordered to await extradition to the United States of America after Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls ruled that he be sent to that country to face three counts of conspiracy to traffic cocaine.
Peter Morgan, 46, of Oleander Gardens, East Coast Demerara, pursed his lips as he was remanded in custody by Mc Nicolls in the Port-of-Spain Eighth Magistrates’ Court.
His attorneys Rajiv Persad and Ravi Rajcoomar had made two unsuccessful closing submissions aimed at having the proceedings against the imported used parts dealer for trucks and tractors discontinued.
Morgan was indicted last November by a New York grand jury on three counts to import and distribute cocaine in the U.S.
It is alleged that between December 2001 and August 2003, Morgan, together with David and Susan Narine, Trinidadian Hung-Fung Mar, and others persons unknown, did knowingly and intentionally conspire to import the cocaine into the U.S.
A second count alleges that during the same period the group conspired to distribute and possess the cocaine with intent to distribute it in the U.S.
A third count alleges that during the same period Morgan, together with persons unknown, conspired to distribute the cocaine, knowing that it would be imported into the U.S.
Yesterday, Persad argued that the charges brought against Morgan were statute-barred as they violated the American Statute of Limitations.
Section 3282(a) of Title 18 of the United States Code sets a five year deadline after the commission of an offence within which prosecutors are allowed to file charges.
But Persad argued that the conspiracy to commit the deeds alleged in the indictment must have been completed prior to the actual commission of the trafficking offence, sometime before 2001. This, he argued, would make the charges late by two years.
But Senior Counsel Israel Khan rebutted by pointing out that the conspiracy alleged was a “continuous offence” that remains extant, “mutating and developing” during the commission of actions linked to the offence.
Conspiracy is defined as an agreement to commit an unlawful act.
Mc Nicolls agreed with Khan, accepting that the charges were in time because the alleged conspiracy comprised continuous acts up to 2003.
Rajcoomar argued that the testimony of anonymous witnesses in the case could not be relied on and asked Mc Nicolls to therefore not consider their evidence when determining whether there were first instance grounds for ordering Morgan’s extradition.
But Mc Nicolls ruled that he accepted that the identity of the secret witnesses would be revealed at the trial stage in America. He ruled that he was satisfied that a prima facie case had been made out.
Morgan, who stood in the prisoners’ dock, wearing a dark blue stripped tee-shirt and blue jeans, said that he was reserving his defence in answer to the charges and informed the Chief Magistrate of his intention to file a notice of alibi with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions within ten days.