A FEDERAL Grand Jury in the United States has handed down a two count indictment on Guyanese ‘money jet’ pilot, Khamraj Lall, for possession and intention to distribute five kilogrammes or more of cocaine into the United States, according to a statement from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) yesterday. According to the release issued yesterday, Lall’s case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Marangola, who quoted Lall’s indictment saying, “between December 2013 and February 10, 2015, the defendant (Lall) conspired to possess and import from Guyana into the United States, five kilogrammes or more of cocaine.”

“Lall is a pilot and is accused of transporting the cocaine on his flights from Guyana to the United States,” the release continued.
The charge carries a minimum penalty of ten years imprisonment, and a maximum of life imprisonment, as well as US$10M fine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York.
Lall, a Canadian citizen of Guyanese origin living in New Jersey was arrested in Puerto Rico in November 2014, after being found with some US$620,000 in undeclared money aboard his private jet.
Lall is a known businessman who owns Kaylee’s Service Station in Coverden, East Bank Demerara, as well as the Exec Jet Club at Gainesville Regional Airport (KGVN) in Florida, which has reportedly been closed. He also owns KLX Logistics Inc., a trucking business in Jersey City.
Lall was placed in the care of U.S. authorities in Puerto Rico and was later placed on US$100,000 bail with an order from Magistrate Marcos Lopez to return to New Jersey, and not to visit Guyana.
Meanwhile in Guyana, Lall was allegedly linked to former President Donald Ramotar, who reportedly was flown on the private jet. Lall’s jet company in Florida had a private hangar at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) at Timehri.
The former Donald Ramotar Administration had distanced itself from the pilot while denying that Lall’s company was given special privileges. Then Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Robeson Benn, who also held responsibility for aviation, said the company’s operations were in keeping with regulations.
U.S. authorities in the Internal Revenue Scheme (IRS), the United States’s tax revenue body, had gone after 14 bank accounts allegedly held by Lall along with a Lexus car, and two planes, which included the jet which Lall had left in Puerto Rico after his arrest.
On December 8, 2014, the IRS filed a civil case in New Jersey. The tax authority had seized some US$442,743.59 from accounts controlled by Lall and his companies. These monies were in addition to the over US$600,000 that was found on the jet in Puerto Rico.
After being released on bail and returning to New Jersey, Lall was arrested on July 22 of this year, and made an initial appearance in Federal Court of the District of New Jersey. He is currently being detained, but will be returned to the Western District of New York at a later date, according to the FBI release.
Lall is yet to be sentenced. “The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty,” the release concluded.

By Derwayne Wills