FORMER Commissioner of Police Floyd McDonald on Sunday denied any knowledge of the disappearance of diamonds belonging to Ronald Khan, a miner, while he served as crime chief. Khan has since filed a civil suit against the state to recover approximately $54M, the approximate value of the missing diamonds.

McDonald, along with a former Deputy Crime Chief Harley Davidson, and former Inspector Maison all denied handling the diamonds in the said matter. In fact, they have all indicated that at the time the diamonds were discovered missing, they were either no longer serving in the force, or were attached to other departments.

In a statement to the Guyana Chronicle, McDonald said he joined the Guyana Police Force on July 19, 1967 and retired in 2004.
“During the period stated I never received, saw, examined, sent to examine any diamonds in relation to Ronald Khan, he declared in his statement.”

He also refuted giving instructions or diamonds to Inspector Maison.
“Inspector Maison therefore never returned any diamonds to me. It is my view therefore that the article’s corrosive nature is aimed at my character,” the statement, said while calling on this newspaper to correct “his poisonous article with like coverage”.

Subsequent to his response to the article, McDonald told reporters at his Diamond, East Bank Demerara (EBD) home that from information he has received, the time when the diamonds belonging to Khan went missing, he was no longer in the police force.

“When I checked with the police, it appears as though when the diamonds were allegedly found missing some investigation was launched or investigations; I was out of the force then. The police would have more information on it.”

URGENT PUBLIC NOTICE
The Ministry of Legal Affairs on Saturday issued an urgent public notice for nine former policemen to explain why some $54M worth of diamonds has disappeared. The diamonds reportedly belong to Ronald Khan, a miner, who has since filed a suit against the state to reclaim the diamonds, and/or its value.

The Guyana Chronicle understands that the matter dates back to 1994. According to the notice published in the Guyana Chronicle newspaper on Saturday, May 5, 2018, former Police Commissioner Floyd McDonald, who back in 1994 served as Crime Chief; Harley Davidson, Deputy Crime Chief; Eon Sandy, formerly stationed at the Supreme Criminal Court Police Outpost; Alwyn Wilson, stationed at then ‘E’ and ‘F’ Division headquarters, Eve Leary; Terrence Semple, last stationed at Mahdia Police Station; Courtney Ramsey, last stationed at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), police Headquarters, Eve Leary; Desmond Leitch, last stationed at CID Headquarters, Eve Leary; Constable Fraser,

Reg#10881 and Ex-detective Sergeant Carl Wilson, Reg # 7797 are being asked to make urgent contact with the the Attorney General’s Chambers.

Khan, who is being represented by the Hughes, Fields and Stoby law firm, had initially started proceedings sometime in 2011 to retrieve his diamonds, the Guyana Chronicle understands.
Meanwhile, the former top cop who now serves as chairman of the New Building Society (NBS), said he is somewhat concerned that after some 20 years the matter has resurfaced. “I am very concerned, because there is apparently a gap between the [Attorney General] AG’s Chambers and the police.”

McDonald in the presence of his wife, said the police would supply information to the AG’s Chambers in such matters.
“I was not even in the force when the diamond [sic] was apparently discovered missing. I am just speaking based on my knowledge… it is not a matter I would deal with at CID headquarters; we don’t keep exhibits at CID headquarters,” he explained.
The former police commissioner said evidence would have been kept at ‘F’ Division or at the court when the matter was being heard.

“In this case, it is Mahdia. I don’t know if they kept the exhibit at Mahdia or they kept it at ‘E’ and ‘F’ headquarters,” he said, maintaining that he had nothing to do with disappearance of the diamonds as the diamonds were never in his possession.
The Guyana Chronicle on Sunday reported that based on information provided by an ex-policeman who has also been asked to make contact with the AG’s Chambers, that at some point the diamonds were handed over to McDonald after it was inspected by a diamond dealer.

However, McDonald said “I don’t want to talk much about this matter, but the point I am making is that I am totally surprised that this allegation was made against me just like this. Nobody called me to find out anything. Matters like these don’t be dealt with by the CID headquarters.”

He said he is not inclined to believe his name was placed in the mix because of grudges. “I don’t want to think so. It is how the AG’s Chambers dealt with this matter,” he said, while adding that he is unsure of the relationship between the AG’s Chambers and the police.
However, McDonald disclosed that the Office of Professional Responsibility had mounted an investigation into the matter either in 2006 or 2011. He said too that based on information received, ‘F’ Division also carried out an investigation when the diamonds were found to be missing.

I WASN’T THERE
“I wasn’t there and I wasn’t involved in any way. I am concerned that a person’s name is placed in the newspaper,” said a soft-spoken McDonald.

Further, the former top cop explained that the system which exists at the Guyana Police Force (GPF) requires that exhibits be kept separately from the actual cases.
“CID headquarters would have cases and they would keep the exhibit separately. I as a crime chief never kept any exhibits in my safe; that was not my function,” he said.

Similarly, Maison (only name provided) in an interview Sunday with the Guyana Chronicle denied handling any diamonds during the period referenced in this newspaper’s Sunday publication.

Maison told the Guyana Chronicle that he read the article online and laughed as he was not a member of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) at the time, and he had already left the ‘E’ and ‘F’ Division.

In fact, he said he had moved from that division since November 1992. “There is no way I could have been involved; it is a lie. The person who said that probably knowing I was there during a period of time assumed I was there then, but I wasn’t.”

Maison explained that in November 1992, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Crime Scene Unit where he served until his retirement. “…I have no knowledge…I am very surprised. I used to be in charge of CID, but I had already left there at that time.”
Maison noted too that in any event former top cop McDonald while serving as crime chief, would only have been informed about the matter but would not have had any direct dealings with the case or the exhibit.

“It is simply not true,” he declared. Similarly, former deputy crime chief at the time, Harley Davidson, told the Guyana Chronicle that he too was not involved in any such matter. “I am not happy at all with what I saw in the papers…I know nothing of the incident. I know absolutely nothing about it,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the matter comes up today before Puisne Judge, Fidela Corbin-Lincoln.