IMRAN Khan, the brother of Nizam Khan, the man accused of plotting to assassinate President David Granger sometime in 2015, has said he never asked any favours of Police Commissioner, Seelall Persaud, his friend of 12 years.

Testifying at the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the matter on Friday, Khan, a Grove, East Bank Demerara (EBD) businessman, told the Paul Slowe headed Commission that he did not ask the Top Cop to intervene in the arrest and subsequent release of his brother.

Khan was arrested on March 29 for disorderly behaviour at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

He said too that his friendship with the Police Commissioner is not unlike that of any other friendship, though the duo never visited each other’s homes. In fact, Khan, who is a miner, realtor and spare parts dealer, told the Commission that his friendship with Persaud is relative to intelligence sharing.

Attorney for the Commission, James Bond, questioned the nature of the duo’s friendship. “For the 12 years, have you ever requested any favours of commissioner of police?” Bond asked as Khan responded in the negative.

“Sir, our friendship was not for the purpose of any favours…,” declared the businessman, who repeatedly told the Commission he has never asked his friend of over a decade any favours. He said on March 29, when he was informed that the police visited his brother’s Diamond, EBD premises he contacted the Police Commissioner twice between 16:00hrs and 17:00hrs and subsequently between 18:00hrs and 19:00hrs.

He said he asked Persaud to find out why the police were at his brother’s house and did not have a search warrant. “…it was not a favour…but I did make a request to him,” admitted Khan, who noted that his request should not be seen as a favour. The Police Commissioner returned the call and told Imran to have his brother cooperate with the police as the allegation is a serious one.

“…there is no need to retract… I’ve never asked him for a favour,” said Khan who noted that he has communicated with Persaud via his cell phone always.

“How often would you call Mr Seelall, if at all?” Bond continued. “Not that much frequent…I maintain that we do talk on the phone…” said Khan, who said the friendship was a 50/50 one where both parties called.

“I didn’t ask him any assistance to compromise the matter…just to intervene in the matter with the police being there without the warrant and not putting the allegation to Nizam Khan,” said the businessman.

He told the Commission that he is not friends with any other senior officers of the Force but noted that he would see senior officers from time to time, at police functions and other locations, but they aren’t his personal friends.

During cross-examination, Khan’s attorney Christopher Ram asked, “…The relationship is not unique to other police?” asked Ram to whom, his client replied, “I know a lot of police on the East Bank…” The businessman noted that he would interact with some police from time to time when they approached him to have their vehicles fixed.

He said too that he has no contractual relationship with the Guyana Police Force or the Police Commissioner to have police vehicles repaired at his shop and has not received payment for same.
“Since in the early 2000s I have been assisting but not major mechanical repairs to police vehicles…tyres…not a contractual arrangement from the Force…so we won’t have payments in terms of that.”

Khan told the Commissioner that he can’t recall receiving calls from former Commander ‘A’ Division, Clifton Hicken, to fix police vehicles and noted too that the Police Commissioner has never made such a request.

“Did you indicate to the Commissioner of Police that you would normally assist in fixing vehicles?” asked the Commission’s attorney to which the man replied, “No sir”. Khan has maintained that he has had no role to play in the alleged plot to assassinate President Granger.

His brother has been accused of offering Andriff Gillard $7M to kill the president in 2015. Gillard made a report to the Police on the matter, on March 29, 2017.

Not close to brother
Meanwhile, Khan told the Commission that he does not share a very close relationship with his brother but noted that he is a licenced firearm holder. Khan said he is unsure of when his brother became licensed to carry a firearm but he received his approval in the early 1990s.

The businessman denied assisting his brother with obtaining his firearm licence and noted that he has never been around his brother with his firearm nor has he shown it to him. “We don’t have close socialising in the family…we talk about business… [But] in terms of getting into his personal business and life, no sir.” He made it clear that he does not imbibe nor go out with his brother but noted that from time to time, Nizam would have visited his Grove Public Road business.

Firearms
Additionally, Khan disclosed that he has three licensed firearms, one of which is usually concealed on his person. The man disclosed that he owns a .45 handgun, a 12 gage shotgun and an Olympia magazine .223 rifle. He described the rifle as a semi-automatic weapon averaging 20 to 21 inches length and is black in colour. Gillard had reported that Nizam was in possession of a long black gun, which he claimed was to be used to kill President Granger. No such weapon was found by police at Nizam’s residence.

“Has Nizam ever seen that rifle? Did Nizam have access to that rifle?” Bond asked to which Khan replied, “No sir. It is kept at my home sir.” In his evidence-in-chief, the man disclosed that his firearms were bought on Camp Street at a dealer.

Nizam he said was never informed of his acquisition of the weapon. Moreover, Khan told the Commission that he did not seek permission to import any other weapon other than the .45 shotgun and the rifle, as well as “special ammunition” for the rifle. During cross-examination, he said he first owned a 9mm firearm, but subsequently upgraded to a .45 handgun sometime in 2012. He said the upgrade was done sometime in 2014.

Assaulted
Khan told the Commission that he was manhandled by police at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and obtained a medical to that effect. He admitted that he has not laid the document over to the police but said he has it at home.

The man explained that he contacted the Police Commissioner sometime in the evening on March 29 to tell him the police was giving him a hard time to make a report at the station. “I went to make a complaint – for one hour or one and a half hours I was pushed around and the police denied me access to take the report. I immediately called Mr Seelall, but no one answered,” Khan recounted.

He noted that he spoke to Sergeant Komal Petamber, who advised him that his report would eventually be taken. The man said that as a result of being pushed around he raised his voice much to the displeasure of the police. Khan said one Corporal, identified as Benjamin told him ‘Gillard came from OP (Office of the president) be careful with that report’. The man said the police also told him that he was not threatened by Gillard and made a series of excuses as to why his report could not have been taken.

“In a lil loud voice I said I have you on recorder here I will go to OPR to complain about it because my life is involved…that is when I called Seelall and he didn’t take my call.”
He said when he mentioned he was recording the incident, “they manhandle me and take me phone and Corporal Benjamin delete my recording.”

He recounted that he protested against the actions of the police and during his protest he was hit to the chest by the police who were also cursing at him. He no longer has the recording of the episode as he told the Commission that Corporal Benjamin took his unlocked Nokia smartphone and deleted it.

The man admitted to using indecent language at the police station but noted that it was done out of frustration. During his time in custody, where he was arrested for disorderly behaviour, the Police Commissioner returned his call on his cell phone. It was Sergeant Petamber who handed Khan the mobile device.

By that time, Khan said he was already on $10,000 bail but did not have money to pay at the time. He reported same to the Police Commissioner, who then spoke with Inspector Prem Narine, who followed through on their discussion.

Counsel for the Commission then asked Khan if he is familiar with an Inspector Hoyte, to which he responded in the affirmative. He was then asked to state any issues he had with the Inspector to which he said yes, and referred to sometime between 2007 and 2009. Before the witness could explain the situation his attorney interjected and questioned the relevance of the line of questioning. Ram believed that the Commission’s counsel was on an unrelated “fishing expedition”. That line of questioning was subsequently withdrawn.