Allegations of corruption do not find their way accidentally...

on the face of man and government, people and country. There could not have been a bigger, broader audience. Who didn’t know before, know now. Who didn’t care earlier, had better care now. Jagdeo is spoilt goods. I pain for the man. My history has been of having to feel sorry for those who have borne false witness against me. There is no joy, only regrets that a man who had everything going for him, could have done so much, went down the path that he chose.

Jagdeo’s first responder, the no less Minister Teixeira, only made matters worse. She didn’t put her foot in her mouth; she put her mouth in an unmentionable place. Nobody did anything. So, the police couldn’t do ‘nuttin’. Where do Guyana get people like these from, and then put them where they are? How do they last so long? Must be the culture. Must be weather, environment, and mores too. It is time to wrap this up. I cautioned Jagdeo: going overboard to do right by Exxon has its pluses. But America is hearing about all that has gone wrong here under the Jagdeo-Ali tag team. Institutions politicized. Citizens pulverized. Standards minimized. A PPP supporter from the East Coast Demerara said it better than I ever can: “dem maan dis cum bak in deh and de moh baad dan b4”. He said it, not me. And lest Guyanese forget, there was that pesky, relentless fellow at the UN asking those punishing questions about the PPP Government and Jagdeo. Indeed, there is a time for everything. For Jagdeo, it is a time to weep.

Sincerely, GHK Lall

After reading your newspaper’s breaking news article on, Tuesday, March 19, on the Maurice Arjoon case, I couldn’t help shaking my head and exhaling loud enough to express great sympathy for a man who was punished and humiliated for almost 30 years, all because he would not bow or bend to satisfy another’s unbridled greed, which is fueled by deep-seated vindictiveness.

This could well go down as one of the longest Guyana court cases in which sheer vindictiveness was on full display from the get-go. Mr. Arjoon - a former Director/Secretary, Chief Executive Officer of the NBS where he was employed at the Management level, then Executive/Directorship level for nearly 30 years with an unblemished record until the events complained of - was minding his own business working with the privatelyowned New Building Society. The mortgage company had absolutely nothing to do with any government.

While I can only hope Mr. Arjoon has already started his memoir on this politically tortuous journey that upended his professional and personal life, I want to encourage Guyanese to Google and download a report compiled by then Ombudsman, Justice Winston Moore, and submitted to Parliament: “Report Of The Ombudsman On A Complaint By Mr. Maurice Arjoon

Dear Editor,

Why would a Human Rights Committee concern itself with a United States (US) Immigration decision to engage a traveler for secondary questioning? Where is the violation? The American Civil Liberties Union advises “If you are a non-citizen visa holder or visitor, you may be denied entry into the United States if you refuse to answer officers’ questions.” The one caveat to questioning offered by the ACLU is “Officers may not select you for questioning based on your religion, race, national origin, gender, ethnicity, or political.” Since neither Mae Thomas nor Guyana has filed a complaint with the US authorities alleging misconduct by the US Immigration officials and, the US Immigration and Customs did not deny entry, detain, or file charges of any kind against Mae Thomas, the question raised by the US representative

Arising Out Of Prosecution For A Fraud At The New Building Society Ltd.” (PDF format). On my computer, it is 77 pages long, but it is worth reading.

Local news media have done a fine job keeping Guyanese abreast of court developments regarding this Arjoon saga, but this man literally became a living political target and was arrested on fraud charges, which the Court subsequently dismissed. Even the Appeal Court upheld the dismissal, and the CCJ concurred.

But what will make you wax angrily about this spitefulness, typical of Jagdeoism, is this part of the Ombudsman report attributed to Mr. Arjoon: “In 2006, at an NBS Board meeting, three Directors voted for an investment of G$2B in the Berbice Bridge, while three voted zero investment. I recommended that the Directors be guided by the Financial Institutions Act in determining the quantum to invest in the Berbice Bridge, to which they all agreed without any objection thus $350M was invested (then). Less than 2 hours later, Nanda Gopaul then Vice Chairman of NBS while doubling as Permanent Secretary in Office of the President Bharrat Jagdeo (my clarification) - telephoned me and said that as President Jagdeo did not get the $2B for the Berbice Bridge he - the President - will ‘deal with me!’”

Laurence Helfer “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?” displays Helfer’s ignorance of the workings of his home country at best and is simply asinine at worst. I am logically lost searching for a pathway that equates secondary questioning by US Immigration (a routine occurrence) with ‘allegations of corruption’.

Mae Thomas made no false declaration to US Customs and was not carrying an amount of cash over the threshold but still subsequently lost her US Visa. This loss numbers Thomas among the fifty-odd persons who