There are many questions which arise from the detention of Mr Kem Khamraj Lall in Puerto Rico over the discovery of US$620,000 on the private jet on which he was a passenger. As far as the Guyanese public is concerned these questions fall broadly into three categories.
The detention of Mr Lall brought to the fore that he was a successful applicant for a private hangar at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri. Particularly in light of his arrest in Puerto Rico and the unwillingness of this government and its semi-autonomous agencies to be transparent on the simplest of things there should be a detailed explanation from the CJIA Corporation. Lall’s hangar is one of a number at Timehri. How are applications for the establishment of such hangars generated? Are proposals invited from the general public or is it the case that persons like Mr Lall have the inside track and are only just required to approach the board of the CJIAC. The Board of the CJIAC should provide the public with full information on the sequence of events leading up to the granting of permission to Mr Lall to operate a private hangar.
What considerations informed the decision to permit the hangar? Was it a pledge of a significant investment in the economy or was there a pressing need that Mr Lall’s jet service was going to fill at CJIA? Were there other candidates who might have been interested in hangars at Timehri? Is there an overarching framework for the expansion of CJIA and what does it say about the number of private hangars and the criteria for such.
Most importantly, what sort of due diligence and background checks were done on Mr Lall. This is extremely important as increasingly countries like Guyana tend to be exposed to investors who have their own agendas which can often run counter to the interests of the country. Were the security services invited to vet the application by Mr Lall and to provide input on the location of the hangar? Did Mr Lall and his clientele utilise facilities of the private hangar prior to its completion and the activation of all of requirements for its operation such as full integration with the airport’s operations and the presence of customs and security officials? The CJIAC should make every effort to release information on these areas as soon as possible so that the public can judge the soundness of its decision-making. The CJIAC must also now describe what steps it will take to address the fate of this particular hangar and outline measures on how future proposals of this type will be addressed.
The second area of interest would be the use of this craft on three occasions by President Donald Ramotar and his entourage. Was Mr Lall authorized to undertake such trips considering that he was operating within the rubric of a private jet club which should only be servicing its members? Did the government buy into this club or was there some special protocol that was utilized to enable this trip? Or was it the case that the use of the jet by the President’s delegation was improper? How much money was paid for the use of the jet and was this the full commercial fare? The Office of the President would surely see the wisdom in answering these questions and providing evidence of payment etc.
Mr Lall’s detention in Puerto Rico on the suspicion of not declaring US$620,000 that was found hidden on the aircraft immediately poses security and other concerns about the President of the country travelling in a private jet piloted by him. Who advised the President to travel on three occasions with Mr Lall’s jet and on what basis was this advice tendered?
The third area of interest to the public is the discovery of US$620,000 by US authorities secreted on the jet. Had the jet refuelled in Puerto Rico without interception by US authorities, it would have then headed to CJIA. What would have happened to the cash? From the reports of Mr Lall’s behaviour in Puerto Rico prior to the discovery of the large sums hidden away it was not likely that this large amount of cash would have been made known to Guyanese authorities. Indeed, Mr Lall’s hangar is still without the requisite security and other installations. On November 22 when he would have arrived at Timehri there would have been no official present to either detect the cash or mount a routine search for it. The cash would likely not have been registered at the point of arrival in the customary manner.
This is the type of occurrence that makes a fiction of the government’s assertion that its Financial Intelligence Unit and the recently established Special Organised Crime Unit are getting on top of the non-legislative aspects of international anti-money laundering requirements.
Thanks to the US authorities the Guyanese public has become aware of this particular interception and a judicial process will now unfold in Puerto Rico for all to see. The man/woman in the street would be disbelieving however of any notion that there aren’t numerous cases of the transiting of cash, laundered proceeds and contraband into and out of the country by aircraft and other means. The informal economy has sustained itself as a result of this. In the context of the anti-money laundering debate, the government will have to recalibrate its efforts to convince the Guyanese public that it isn’t just paying lip service to this question.
