Dear Editor,
According to a recent news report, the Guyanese cash pilot cornered in Puerto Rico has a stash of hidden assets; millions of US dollars of such assets. This is not surprising, because from the moment that the Feds decided to move on him, it was clear that they had more, that they possessed the bigger financial context, and the connections. It is how they operate.
Now, it can be reasonably posited that those assets uncovered do not belong to Mr Lall. It is just as reasonable to say that he is not the only front man concealing funds. Guyanese ought to be familiar with those who are at the head and in the middle of such a network; its driving forces. The other undeniably safe thing to say is that these clandestine riches did not originate in honest labour, or painstaking accumulation. Again, Guyanese know where all roads lead as to the source of such prosperity, none of which is legitimate.
In the interim, the defendant has a growing number of federal agencies seeking to extract the delicious details, such as names, layers, fronts within fronts, silent partners, and the whole gamut of shadows and smoke. What has made news is only part of the story; the Feds want names and networks to connect dots; some of the answers they already know, or can extrapolate. Making false statements to a federal officer is also a crime; so it comes down to give up or go down. Talk or walk (in an orange suit). The pilot should know that those who went before did talk and provide names. So his goose is cooked, and all but locked up. It is the truth or a minimum twenty in the slammer; they have cable TV and conjugal visits, which should be of some comfort.
Incidentally, the thought occurred that at one time, local politicos of dubious character and even more dubious opulence used to trot out the tried and tested ‘is de faamly sen money frum outside’ to justify the inexplicable. Nowadays, there is so much prosperity here that tons of monies are sent from here to elsewhere for concealment and safekeeping, and adding to the slush funds. Indeed, Guyana has come a far way.
All I have left to say is that in Guyana, politics and power is a real rich rewarding business. No wonder the fellows do not want to relinquish their hold on the sweetness.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
