By Leroy Smith
Commissioner of Police, Seelall Persaud today (Friday, April 21, 2017) told journalists that there are two charges which are likely to be instituted once the investigations into the plot to assassinate President David Granger is complete.
According to the Top Cop, if the claims which were made by a businessman on National television are true and the evidence is there to support such, then those involved will be charged for treason.
If however the claims are found to be false, and the person who came forward with the information mislead the police causing them to take the necessary actions, then that person would be charged with providing false information to a law enforcement officer.
Persaud was invited to comment on the issue after witnessing a stimulus exercise involving the joint service at Timehri on Friday.
He explained that following the initial investigations into the claims, a file was sent to the Police Legal Advisor who recommended that the police confront the person claiming to have been hired to shoot the president and the person who he is alleging approached him with the offer.
Already one person who is believed to be a witness to the incident has been contacted, and he has provided the police with a statement. The police are expected to work overtime this weekend to get to the bottom of these claims.
Responding to claims that persons within the Guyana Police Force might also be involved in the alleged plot to kill the Commander- in- Chief, Persaud established that “security for the state apparatus is the number one objective of the police force or any police force any part of the world if you want a country to go into chaos then attack the state apparatus make it dysfunctional and its chaos.”
Having said that, he noted that “a threat against a President cannot be pushed under any carpet in the force.”
“We all vote at election and we all vote based on our own things and I guess different parties. So there will be in every unit of the force, persons who would have voted for the party in government, and even if there are elements in the force trying to prevent a professional investigation, it is difficult to implement, given that word will leak. This country is small, everyone knows somebody somewhere and that will certainly get out” the Top Cop stated.
Meanwhile, Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan who was also invited to comment on the development, weighed in on claims by at least one television station which is airing information suggesting that evidence is presented to prove that ranks are involved in the alleged plot.
“I want to say that is absolutely untrue, there is absolutely no information like that and that could constitute public mischief by MTV and its reporters, public mischief which can lead to prosecution if they continue with that. As I understand that they are purporting to do tonight, and it could also lead to some very severe consequences about their licensing; MTV’s license, so I hope they know what they are doing. I don’t know if they misinterpreted what this exercise is all about and put 2 and 2 and got twenty-two instead of four”
He expressed hope that the television station did not misunderstand the meaning of the Operation Assurance 11 which was conducted today (Friday, April 21, 2017) along the East Coast, West Coast and East Bank of Demerara, to mean that the claim of a plot to kill the president is true.
