Chairman of Vision Guyana, Peter Ramsaroop who was accused of spying on a tenant says that when he is exonerated, he will use his experience to fight for the rights of innocent citizens who are being harassed by the police.
Almost two weeks have passed since the allegations surfaced amid much publicity and the release of statements by the police, but nothing incriminating has thus far been found.
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud when contacted said that nothing has been found on the hard drives seized by the police during the search so far but investigations are continuing.
Ramsaroop yesterday maintained his innocence and stressed that his character was tarnished despite the lack of evidence.
He said that when he visited Police Headquarters, Eve Leary on Tuesday, he was told that no incriminating material was found but an old recording device which was in storage at his Land of Canaan property, still had to be looked at. The police then told him that he will be contacted at a later date.
He stated that an accusation was made against him that he was transmitting pornographic material on the internet but there was no physical evidence to support that.
Despite this, he said, the police were able to “swoop down on me… but had the police traced the wires from that old camera, they would have seen that there was no evidence and stopped the investigation.”
Ramsaroop said this incident has shown that there is a major flaw in the investigation process and that the system was not set up to work in the right way. He noted that someone can make an allegation against you but then there needs to be evidence to determine the magnitude of the investigation.
The Alliance For Change (AFC) member said he is not angry, adding, “this is a pattern of harassment against me”.
He said that at the moment he wanted to fuel his energies into fighting to protect the rights of those men who are picked up after being falsely accused, fingerprinted and released after 72 hours.
“My name went through sleaze, but I want this to be an opportunity for me to educate people about a suppressing government”, he added.
Yesterday while speaking to Stabroek News, Ramsaroop called for the disbanding of state-owned media houses, which according to him are publishing allegations against citizens without any supporting evidence.
On May 17, police, acting on information received, obtained and executed a search warrant on a building owned by Ramsaroop at 261 Forshaw and New Garden streets, Queenstown.
The building houses three tenants but ranks were only able to access one of the apartments where 19-year-old Nicole Ming was the sole occupant.
During the search, three cameras were found, they said. One hidden in a clock on the wall that provided a panoramic view of the apartment, another hidden in a radio in the bathroom and a third focusing on her bed.
When Ming officially moved into the apartment on March 15, she said, she saw an object on the wall but thought it was a motion detector as at no time was she told that there was a camera in her living quarters.
She told the media during an arranged press briefing without cameras that two weeks into her stay while hosting a party, a red light on the object started flashing when one of her friends lifted her top. Subsequently the object was turned to the wall.
Then on May 5, Ming said, Ramsaroop asked her to leave her door open so that a technician could enter and fix his telephone line. According to her, she told him to use his spare key. She could not say if anyone had indeed entered her apartment.
Ming told the police that on her return home she observed an instrument on the wall with a light flashing. She complained that Ramsaroop may have been recording her. The police said they became suspicious that Ramsaroop might be in possession of pornography and might be distributing pornography and consequently obtained warrants to search his apartment as well as his office at Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara. At the time he was overseas and on his return on May 17, the warrants were executed in his presence by the police who seized two computer hard drives and a digital video recorder from his apartment and two computer hard drives from his office.
After the cameras were found, Ming denied that the clock and radio were hers saying that they were part of the furnished apartment.
Ramsaroop has since denied all the allegations saying that at no time did he enter Ming’s apartment or have a key to it. He also said he had told her that there was an old camera in her apartment but it was not working as the wiring had been cut.
He was released from police custody on $20,000 cash bail.
