Submitted by Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID)

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK: The New York based Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) has renewed its call for Guyana’s Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, to resign for authorizing the acquisition of telephone spy and geographic intercepting equipment by convicted criminal Roger Khan. Khan was the head of a drug cartel and a violent gang called the Phantom gang, which has killed more than 400 individuals in Guyana.

A CGID statement issued on Wednesday, February 10, 2010, announced that the institute has acquired a copy of Ramsammy’s letter approving the sale of the equipment to Khan on behalf of the Guyana government. The statement quoted CGID President, Rickford Burke, as saying that “There is incontrovertible evidence that Dr. Ramsammy is a nefarious crook who is part of a criminal enterprise. He must be removed from office and prosecuted for conspiracy and accessory to murder for aiding, abetting and assisting Roger Khan and his gang in the assassination of several individuals, including journalist Ronald Waddell.” UNESCO has ruled Waddell’s January 30, 2006 killing a political assassination.

Burke said that “It is repugnant for a Minister of government to be involved in a criminal enterprise that exported drugs into the United States and conducted murder for hire,” and added that “there needs to be justice for the victims who Khan has allegedly killed and their families.”

Khan was arrested by US law enforcement authorities in 2008 in Trinidad and Tobago and brought to the US for trial. In November 2009 he was convicted in New York Federal Court for importation of drugs into the US and sentenced to fifteen years in jail. Khan’s Attorney at the time, Robert Simels, who had traveled to Guyana and uplifted the equipment and shipped it to the US, was also subsequently arrested and charged for attempting to pay an FBI informant to kill a witness in Khan’s case and with possession of the eavesdropping equipment. He was convicted in December 2009 and sentenced to fourteen years in jail.

During Simels’ trial, the US Justice Department presented evidence which established that Guyana’s Health Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, authorized a Miami company, The Spy Shop, to sell and deliver the spy equipment to Khan in October 2002, on behalf of the Guyana Government. Two months later, a Guyana Defense Force (GDF) patrol pulled over a pick-up truck in which Roger Khan and two other accomplices were traveling and discovered the interceptors in his vehicle. The equipment was seized and Khan was charged. However the government directed that the charges against Khan be dropped and the equipment was returned to the criminal.

Cell phone and geographic interceptors can only be acquired by governments and are used by law enforcement agencies under court supervision and by national Defense Forces. CGID and others have long contended that Khan used the spy equipment in the commission of several crimes, including executions and extra-judicial killings.  In 2005 CGID wrote to then US Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, informing him that Khan was using the equipment to intercept, locate, track and kill individuals on behalf of the Jagdeo government. Khan later admitted that he did “work” for the government.

CGID released a copy of Ramsammy’s letter to Nancy Salvador of the Miami Spy Shop. US Court documents verify that Salvador was an employee of the Spy Shop. Ramsammy’s letter dated October 24, 2002, state that “Guyana is in the throes of one of the worst crime situation the nation has ever faced. We are interested in acquiring your service for a short period so that we can enhance our intelligence. Our representatives have been in touch with you. I have spoken directly to you and this letter on my Cabinet portfolio letterhead is confirmation that this initiative has government’s support.” Ramsammy’s signature and ministerial portfolio are affixed to the letter.

Peter Myers, the Co-director of the UK Firm Smith Myers, had testified under oath that the sale of the intercept equipment, including “CSM 7806 intercept receiver and two TOUGHBOOK Laptops” was authorized by Minister Ramsammy on behalf of the government of Guyana, and that it was sold by the company’s Florida sales office through the Fort Lauderdale-based Spy Shop to the Guyana government. Meyers also identified the equipment in court and confirmed that it can only be sold to governments. He said that his company manufactures the equipment for sale to law enforcement agencies.

The equipment allows intelligence officers to intercept cellular phone calls using the receiver and the data can be sent by USB cable to the laptops where the numbers and the conversations/communication can be recorded onto the hard drive. Meyers also testified that an independent contractor, a trainer named Carl Chapman was sent to Guyana to train several persons to use the equipment.

During Similes’ trial last summer, the US Justice Department also presented evidence linking Ramsammy to the brutal assassination of Guyanese journalist Ronald Waddell. Waddell was gunned down in front of his Georgetown home by assassins from the phantom gang, which Khan operated as a murder for hire enterprise.

Former Phantom gang member turned FBI Informant, Selwyn Vaughn, testified that he was the lookout man for Waddell assassination. He attested that he saw Waddell arrive home on January 30, 2006, and disembarked his vehicle, which he left running. Vaughn testified that he then notified Khan by cell phone and that Khan in turn dispatched the gunmen who unloaded a barrage of bullets as Waddell reentered his car. Vaughn also testified that he was in the presence of Roger Khan who called Minister Ramsammy to inform him that Waddell was shot and was being taken to the Georgetown hospital but that Ramsammy must “let him die.”

Both Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo and Dr. Ramsammy have continually denied that Ramsammy authorized the sale of the equipment to Khan. Burke however observed that “It is important to note that both Khan and Simels were convicted on the said evidence which President Jagdeo and Dr. Ramsammy contend is false.” He emphasized that “The court testimony as well as the newly discovered letter establish that President Jagdeo and Dr. Ramsammy are congenital liars who have given succor to a convicted drug dealer and a murderer.

“They have engaged in a criminal enterprise and have interlocked themselves into an incredible web of lies and deceit and have brought dishonor to the Guyanese nation and Caricom,” he contended.

The Institute’s President said that because President Jagdeo and members of his government have been in bed with drug dealers, Guyana has been transformed into a narco-State. He also signaled that US President Barack Obama refused to meet with Caricom Leaders while Jagdeo was Chairman of the Regional grouping for this reason.