— Luncheon
‘This is stuff that is intended to be informative in an excitatory way’
HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, yesterday said some sections of the local media are not presenting the full picture of the saga of convicted drugs baron Roger Khan now in jail in the United States.

He said calls from the small Alliance For Change political party for Health Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, to resign because of alleged links to Khan were in response to media reports and not based on much fact.

Luncheon noted that opposition parties have also called for a commission of inquiry into the Roger Khan affair and reiterated that “much of the urge is a reflection of what is on an episodic basis being revealed in the media.”

He argued that every time additional information appears in the media, it furthers the request and demands for an investigation which ignore existing gaps in what is known.

“…what is being revealed to the public through the instrumentality of the media is marketable stuff. This is stuff that is intended to be informative in an excitatory way”, he said at his weekly post-Cabinet meeting at the Office of the President complex.

“This is to address the appeal of the media with news and such information. I don’t believe that the intention is to comprehensively present this picture”, he said.

Luncheon said the government maintains much more information is required to help determine whether an investigation should be undertaken here.

Ramsammy on Tuesday dubbed his alleged links to Khan as “wild allegations” peddled by especially certain members of the political opposition.

He said he will not bow to opposition calls for him to resign, since he will only do that at President Bharrat Jagdeo’s request.

In a statement, Ramsammy said: “Whenever allegations are made, we must permit the relevant authorities to do their job. I have never and will never be uncooperative with persons who must do their job.

“I have never been involved in any kind of criminal activity and if there are allegations in that respect, then the police must do their job. If called upon to cooperate with any investigation, I will do so. I am at all times available to those who are responsible to investigate any criminal activity, if they think I could be of any help.

“I can look the public in the eye and I can look all those politicians who call me their friend and I say, I have never been engaged in any criminal activity nor have I ever been engaged in facilitating any criminal activity”.

Khan, nabbed in Suriname by U.S. federal agents after fleeing Guyana, was flown to New York for trial and in March pleaded guilty to all pending charges against him, including drug trafficking and witness tampering.
He is serving 15 years behind bars.