The findings of the Board of Inquiry (BoI) set up to investigate claims by self-confessed drug trafficker Barry Dataram about the alleged involvement of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) in the drug trade and corruption could be publicly available as soon as this week.
This is according to President David Granger, who, in responding to questions on his weekly broadcast “The Public Interest,” said this inquiry should be simpler and shorter than those into the Public Service and the Prison Service.
“Hopefully by next week we would be able to report to the public what the findings are,” he said.
Brigadier (ret) Bruce Lovell, who is holding the one-man BoI heard testimony from Dataram this week. According to President Granger the BoI has been tasked with determining the “veracity of the information” which Dataram shared during an interview on HGPTV Channel 67’s Nightly News.
Dataram, who said he is a businessman, during the interview accused a high ranking CANU official of being involved in the drug trade and added that the rank would take as much as $10 million to allow cocaine to leave the country.
He said drug lords would pay $5 million before the shipment and the remaining would be paid after the shipment. Dataram admitted that he is involved in the drug trade but said he has never been convicted on a criminal charge.
Dataram also alleged that the majority of the drugs that are seized by CANU returns to the streets. He said he knew of this because of his involvement and his friends’ involvement in the trade.
“I know what is going on in the streets… I know what is going on in CANU… them is the enemies and they have to know that just like how they got things on me I get things on them,” he said.
CANU’s head James Singh has since denied the allegations and called on Dataram to provide sworn statements for past and ongoing investigations.
Singh, in his response, suggested a link between Dataram’s allegations and what it considered to be his “unease” over the commencement of his trial for the alleged possession of a large quantity of cocaine that was found concealed in shrimp at his Diamond house.
Dataram, his wife and two friends, who were held during a raid of the Diamond Housing Scheme property, are charged with possession of 284 pounds of cocaine for trafficking.
Asked what will be government’s actions if anyone is found culpable, Granger responded that the law would be allowed to take its course.
“Well we will deal with the culpable in a way that we always deal with the culpable. We expect there will be due process. …If there is a case to answer we will ensure that the person, after proper investigation, is put before the court but we don’t interfere in the judicial process. Once we feel there is a case to answer we will refer the case to the authorities and the law will take its course. We are not persecuting anybody but we just want to know the facts and we will take it from there,” he told reporters.
Dataram’s confessions and revelations are the most recent coming from a person linked to the underworld. Former policeman and bodyguard Shawn Hinds, during an interview with the very television newscast last year, had confessed to being a member of the death squad. He also levelled allegations of corruption and unprofessional conduct against the police.
He went as far as implicating a now retired senior cop in the 2006 murder of journalist and television talk show host Ronald Waddell. He was later detained by the police for questioning but refused to cooperate with investigators.
Later, police foiled his attempt to leave Guyana for Suriname via the ‘back track’ route.
