No ‘solid evidence’ against Charrandass Persaud to warrant extradition proceedings, Ramjattan says

Charrandass Persaud
Charrandass Persaud

The investigations into allegations against former government Member of Parliament (MP) Charrandass Persaud, who is accused of accepting a bribe and voting with the PPP/C on the December 18 motion of no confidence, have stalled, and there is no “solid” evidence to have him extradited, Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan yesterday said.

“…Charrandass has since left and the investigators, I think, were supposed to ask him some questions but they are not getting him…whatever was the status for the past couple of months, it has just stuck there,” Ramjattan said.

He was at the time responding to questions asked by reporters following an event held at his Brickdam office yesterday morning.

Ramjattan explained that in some instances, investigations are “laid down” for a number of years or are deemed unsolved until new evidence surfaces and they are reopened.

He further noted that while the matter is still deemed one of “national security”, he does not think that it is possible to have Persaud returned to the country since there is no “solid evidence” against him in the investigations.

“…For Canada you have to have evidence of a crime being committed before you can bring back somebody. Evidence, solid evidence of a crime, especially against a citizen of Canada. I don’t know if we have managed to accumulate that,” Ramjattan said.

He stated that the police “were acting on information and suspicions whether someone else paid him (Persaud) to do what he did, all of that will be some very technical legal issues”.

“…I don’t know if they have the evidence and who will be forthcoming to testify to that or to give a police statement to that effect,” Ramjattan added.

Since Persaud voted in favour of the opposition-sponsored motion against the government, triggering its collapse, he has come under attack from APNU+AFC MPs, officials of the administration and others. Critics have said that the investigation was politically motivated and had no basis.

The motion was debated on December 21 and passed 33 to 32 after Persaud voted with the opposition.

Persaud, who said he voted according to his conscience, has denied being bribed for his vote.

He left for Canada the day after the vote.

In January, Commissioner of Police Leslie James had announced that Persaud was the subject of an investigation stemming from a report of bribery and possible plans to move gold out of the country.

“It’s a report of alleged bribery and perhaps some movement of gold from the state of Guyana,” James had told a press conference.

He had said that the police were conducting “an impartial investigation” into the matter, while noting that Persaud was innocent until proven guilty.

 “What we have are statements which embodied certain things that I would not disclose for obvious reasons. We cannot say about monies, we can’t say about this, we can’t say about that… the person we are investigating, he is innocent until proven guilty and I would not be prejudicial with this investigation. This is an impartial investigation we have undertaken,” James had explained, before adding that at the conclusion of the investigation, the police would seek legal advice on the way forward.

In March, businessman Peter Ramsaroop was questioned by the police in relation to events leading up to the departure of former parliamentarian Persaud from Guyana.

Ramsaroop had dubbed the investigation “political,” based on the questions he was asked.

At a press conference held in March, Ramjattan had said that the police were seeking advice from an overseas expert for their investigation of Persaud.

Ramjattan had added that the consultation would not only focus on Persaud but would also aim at determining what Ramsaroop was doing on the airside of the Eugene F Correia Airport at the time of Persaud’s departure from the country on December 22, 2018.

James said that to date he has not spoken to Persaud. He said this will only be done once the need arises. 

A number of gold miners were also interviewed as part of the probe.