POLICE Commissioner Henry Greene has slammed the main opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) over claims that he is taking political direction and is not independent.

In a statement over the weekend, he said the party’s charges are a direct attack on him, his senior officers and by extension the Guyana Police Force.

He referred to the Police Act governing the operations of the force, noting that this was in force during the period when the PNCR was in government.

The PNCR, in a press release, accused Greene of acting as a “result of political direction” in hunting suspects in the July 17 fire-bombing of the Health Minister complex on Brickdam, Georgetown.

It also claimed that he has been reluctant to investigate claims in a New York court that confessed drug runner Shaheed Roger Khan was implicated in killings and other crimes here.

Greene asked the PNCR to produce the issues which point to the political manipulation in the face of evidence and facts.

He also noted that there is a distinction between information and evidence and what’s available in the Khan case are newspaper reports.

“The force has sought to acquire any document or documents which are public. However, statements will have to be acquired from those person or persons who have implicated others. It is expected that with the cooperation of the United States of America we would be able to access those persons in the USA to acquire the necessary evidence so as to proceed legally in an investigation”, he said.

“The Office of the Commissioner of Police is not reluctant to launch any probe nor has it received any instructions to the contrary”, he declared.

The commissioner recalled that in the Health Ministry arson, in referring to one of the suspects arrested in connection with the plotting of the fire, he said the man told at least one of the persons whom he recruited that among the reasons for him wanting to cause mayhem was that he disliked the government.

“Is the Guyana Police Force to understand that the arson of the Ministry of Health is not to be investigated based on the available evidence?”, he asked.

“The Office of the Commissioner of Police wishes to reiterate that the Guyana Police Force is apolitical and challenges the PNCR to produce evidence of the day to day political direction and the rouge cops working under the current administration who are given political cover”, he said.           

He said the Police Force will discharge its duty without fear or favour, malice or ill will.

The PNCR claimed it was nonsense and a red herring that Guyana should wait until the trial in New York is complete, arguing that there is more than sufficient evidence to trigger a probe in this country.

“Unless there is something to hide, such a probe must be undertaken with dispatch or the integrity of the Commissioner of Police himself and some of his senior officers will be on the line”, it said.

It charged that while Greene was reluctant to launch such a probe into the Roger Khan matter, he has not been hampered by any such reluctance “when it came to hunting down persons suspected of being involved in the burning down of the Ministry of Health.”