President Bharrat Jagdeo has announced that an informant and the joint services will share the $50M+ reward that was put out for the capture of fugitives Rondell `Fineman’ Rawlins and Jermaine `Skinny’ Charles, who were recently killed in a shoot-out with members of the armed forces.

Rondell Rawlins

In a televised interview aired on state-run NCN yesterday, President Jagdeo said the informant would receive a third of the reward, while the police and the army would share the remainder. He added that a mechanism will have to be worked out to channel the money directly to the agencies or into a special welfare fund.

In February, the police announced a $50M (US$250,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of Rawlins. The President did not say whether the $2M reward offered for Jermaine `Skinny’ Charles, who was killed along with Rawlins, would be included in the settlement.  Rawlins was blamed for a murderous reign of terror, including the 2008 Lusignan and Bartica massacres in which 23 were killed.

Acting on information about the men’s location, police and army found the men last month at Timehri and they were killed during an extended operation.

The main opposition party yesterday said it was concerned that distributing the money to the forces could create conditions to turn them into “bounty hunters.” PNCR Executive Aubrey Norton told reporters that it was not the way to go. “The armed forces themselves should not participate in rewards,” he said. He called it a dangerous trend and warned that it could encourage forces to overlook capture and simply execute. “If you link it (the reward), welcome back to Texas,” he added.