UN committee quizzes Guyana over former PS incident, extrajudicial killings
A day after he created a stir by asking about corruption allegations against Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, the US representative on the UN Human Rights Committee kept up a barrage of questions including the outcome of investigations into the detention of the former Home Affairs Ministry Permanent Secretary at a US airport last year and extrajudicial killings.
During yesterday’s continuation of the United Nations’ 140th Session of the Human Rights Committee (CCPR) in Geneva, Switzerland, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira answered follow-up questions along with new ones posed by United States committee member Laurence Helfer regarding various human rights issues in the country.
Helfer raised concerns about the state’s response to allegations of corruption and the need for agencies to be more proactive in investigating such claims. In particular, the committee member inquired about
civil forfeitures, criminal prosecutions, and the government’s handling of high-profile cases like the detention of a former Permanent Secretary, Mae Toussaint Jr Thomas at the Miami International Airport in April of last year.
“The (Guyana) delegation mentioned that the state assets recovery agency has been replaced by several government
bodies that have authority over asset recoveries pursuant to statutes adopted in 2022 and 2023 and that civil forfeitures have been carried out by these agencies. Would the state party provide information regarding these forfeitures, including the number of cases, the identity of the individuals targeted, and the amounts recovered? Please also indicate whether any criminal prosecutions
Quindon Bacchus have been initiated by these agencies. In addition, does the state party consider that these agencies have a positive duty to be more proactive in investigating allegations of corruption? For example, how is the state party responding to allegations of corruption that have become publicly known, such as the detention of Ms. Mae Toussaint Jr Thomas (former Permanent Secretary), a senior public official, at the
Miami airport in the US on April 8, 2023? Are the authorities of the state party investigating this incident and if not, why not?” Helfer prodded.
In dealing with all the questions posed by different committee members, Teixeira seemed to lose track of Helfer’s question on Toussaint Jr Thomas detention along with those related to civil forfeitures and thus failed to respond. Toussaint Jr Thomas detention in the US and the revocation of her US visa had raised eyebrows. She has since been moved from the Home Affairs Ministry to the Labour Ministry. There has been no local investigation of the incident.
Stabroek News had reported that Toussaint Jr Thomas was carrying a significant amount of cash but below the threshold for declaration when she was selected for a secondary inspection on April 8 last year at Miami International Airport. Her cell phone was subsequently confiscated.
Sources close to the government said that Toussaint Jr Thomas was carrying around the equivalent of US$9,000 when she was questioned by the authorities in the US. She then continued on to China.
Since the government had said that she was on a PPP-related training programme, questions have been raised as to why she was carrying that amount of cash.
According to sources,