Wesley Kirton writes US AG on Simels trial disclosures

Wesley Kirton writes US AG on Simels trial disclosures

Posted By Stabroek staff On August 5, 2009 @ 5:12 am In Local News | 8 Comments

US-based journalist and public relations practitioner Wesley Kirton and other Guyanese Americans have written to US Attorney General Eric Holder outlining concerns about “several aspects of the link between the US and Guyana, regarding the drug trafficking activities and subsequent investigations of confessed Guyana drug lord, Shaheed Roger Khan.”

According to the signatories, this action was undertaken in the pursuit of truth and is based on an unyielding commitment to a non-partisan approach to criminal justice that is beyond politics, race and ideology.

Among the objectives was to invite Holder to take “whatever action you think is warranted to determine whether the claims by the Guyana Government are valid, thereby necessitating some corrective action regarding the methodologies engaged by US law enforcement in pursuing drug traffickers, or alternatively, exposing the deliberate distortion of the truth on the part of the Government of Guyana.”

According to the signatories, the claims by the Guyana Government challenge the credibility of “US law enforcement agencies and have the potential of undermining broad public confidence in, and support for, international cooperation in the fight against the traffic in illegal drugs and money laundering.”

In the letter, the issue of the “sophisticated surveillance equipment” was raised. “The issue which brings the credibility of US law enforcement into greater question is the claim by the Government of Guyana that it has this equipment in its possession, having seized it some years ago from the confessed drug lord.”

“The question of possession of the equipment is important since this will help to determine whether the Guyana Government handed the equipment back to the drug lord after having seized it, whether there was more than one of this particular equipment, and if so, whether these sales were authorized by the US government” , the letter added.

The signatories said that “we know of no effort, nor would we be part of any activities designed to undermine and ultimately remove the Government of Guyana. The Government of Guyana is the legitimately elected government of the country and any change must come either through the ballot box, or the government’s own recognition of its lack of the moral authority to lead and its consequent resignation.”

The other signatories of the letter were George Lyking, Mike Singh, James Deosarran, Margaret Buckmire, Faye July, Gary Lam, John De Caires, M.A Gordon, Leslie Prince, D. Mitchell and Bertie Jadharry.
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