In a ruling earlier this month, the High Court granted the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) an order for the forfeiture of over $9 million, which investigators say was seized from drug trafficking convict Kevin Gordon as proceeds from the commission of a crime.
In a press release yesterday, the Guyana Police Force said the ruling was handed down on November 13th by Justice Navindra Singh, who also ordered that the money be transferred to the Consolidated Fund, as provided for by the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act.
Additionally, the release said that the judge granted SOCU court costs amounting to $1.5 million, which is to be paid no later than December 18th.
According to the police, Gordon at the time of his arrest was found with US$48,560 and GYD $1,400 all totalling some GYD$ 9,713,400.
On May 28th, 2017, at Parika, East Bank Essequibo, officers from the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) conducted a search on Gordon, which unearthed the cash and narcotics in a haversack he was carrying at the time. Gordon was subsequently charged and convicted for narco-trafficking.
The release explained that Gordon denied ownership of the currency and claimed instead that it belonged to a Deon Williams, who subsequently claimed that the money was indeed his and had derived from the sale of fuel.
The police said, however, that it led evidence to show that Williams was not licensed to deal in petroleum and petroleum products.
“The State proved its case on a balance of probability and the court was satisfied that the currency is the proceeds of [a] crime [and] gave judgement in favour of SOCU by ordering confiscation of the cash as part of the proceeds of crime,” the release said.
Gordon had been previously charged by CANU in 2015 for narcotics and was acquitted.
In May of 2017 he would be arrested again by CANU ranks after being found with the large quantity of US currency and was handed over to SOCU.
He was then charged with trafficking over 94 kilogrammes of cocaine on-board a vessel in the Pomeroon River.
In June of this year, he and another Essequibo resident were sentenced to two years in prison and fined $99,701,700 for the drug-trafficking crime.
