‘The owner of Kaieteur News must stop using his press as a tool to settle personal scores and malign the character of people. This is not freedom of the press. It is an abuse of it’ – Remigrant, Kamal Mangal

‘The truth is the owner of the Kaieteur News has been implicated in a re-migrant duty free scandal and he has been charged along with others with several criminal offences, and now he is obviously using his newspaper to drag innocent people into a scandal along with him’ – Remigrant Kamal Mangal

REMIGRANT, Mr. Kamal Mangal, has come out with strong criticisms of Kaieteur News’ Page One article, published yesterday under the headline ‘Remigrant who imported Mercedes Benz SUV says…‘I don’t know I have to live in Guyana’.

He further contends that the local daily’s publisher, Mr. Glenn Lall, is clearly trying to “drag innocent people into a scandal” along with him.
Lall and his wife, Mrs. Bhena Lall, were recently arraigned on four of six criminal charges, related to an alleged remigrant duty-free concession scam.
The contentious article stated that Mangal, the uncle of Attorney-General Anil Nandlall, became a remigrant almost two years ago, but said “he was not aware that he had to be living in Guyana to qualify as a remigrant.” The article also implies a wrongdoing, since Mangal used the address of the AG in his remigrant application.
“At the time that I made the application I was staying at the home of Mohabir Anil Nandlall, Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, a relative of mine, because my house a few blocks away was under construction. I don’t consider anything unusual, irregular or illegal about that,” the remigrant told the Guyana Chronicle.
According to Mangal, the impression conveyed by yesterday’s article is that he is implicated in some scandal or wrongdoing by importing a motor vehicle as a re-migrant from the United States – an implication he has since rejected

emphatically.
He said, “The fact that this non-story made the front page and that my relationship with the Attorney-General and the Minister of Legal Affairs (Mr. Anil Nandlall) was highlighted should clearly demonstrate to the intelligent reader that there is more in the mortar than in the pestle.
“The truth is the owner of the Kaieteur News has been implicated in a re-migrant duty free scandal and he has been charged along with others with several criminal offences, and now he is obviously using his newspaper to drag innocent people into a scandal along with him.”
The remigrant added that Lall is also “obviously” trying to drag his relative, the AG, into a “scandal” as well.
“I want to make it very clear that the Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs had and has absolutely nothing to do with the importation of my vehicle. Kaieteur News’ attempt to connect him to this transaction is simply malicious and wicked,” he said.

ABUSE OF FREE PRESS

Mangal added that Lall is using his newspaper and staff in a manner that abuses the principle of a free press.
He said, “The owner of Kaieteur News must stop using his press as a tool to settle personal scores and malign the character of people. This is not freedom of the press. It is an abuse of it.
“…I never told the Kaieteur News reporter that I did not know that I have to be living in Guyana to be a re-migrant. I told the reporter that I lived in Guyana at the above address, but that I travel frequently to the United States because I have business in Maryland. I saw in the article that it is mentioned that I own properties in Florida and my family lives in Florida. I never said these things to the reporter. They must be a figment of the reporter’s imagination.”
Mangal migrated to the USA 30 years ago. From 2002 to 2011, I began travelling regularly to Guyana acquiring properties and engaging in business. In 2012 he re-migrated to Guyana and was granted a duty free concession to import a motor vehicle, as is allowed by the remigrant scheme.
“There was nothing unusual, irregular or illegal about my application. Significantly, I have complied with every condition imposed by the GRA, including making the vehicle available to them at stipulated intervals,” he said.
Mangal currently resides at Sub-lot “A”, Plot H Delhi Street, Prashad Nagar, where his vehicle is always parked when not being driven.
The remigrant also owns several properties in Guyana, including: Sublot “A”, Plot H Delhi Street, Prashad Nagar; Sublot “B”, Plot H Delhi Street, Prashad Nagar; Sublot 5B part of letter “B” New Road, Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara; and Parcel 55, South Yakusari, Black Bush Polder.