DEVELOPMENTS following the latest revelations regarding gold-smuggling and actions by the US Government against three Guyanese citizens, underline many things, including that ‘Justice is Blind’ and – as President Dr Irfaan Ali said last Thursday – ‘No one is above the law.’
Expectedly, those opposed to the government and ruling party thought they could use the disclosures to distract from the continuing progress this administration has been bringing to Guyana since August 2020.
With the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP) having staged its most-successful congress and the next presidential and parliamentary elections now set, the naysayers and permanent preachers of doom and gloom were (and some still are) hoping to strike political gold along the campaign trail.
However, the President and Attorney General have both indicated that this administration isn’t just sitting on its laurels or taking a hands-off approach, but instead, is continuing to be proactive in the fight against corruption, including money laundering.
Attorney General Anil Nandlall has indicated that there are almost 200 money- laundering cases before the courts and outlined several legal and judicial steps being undertaken to strengthen the government’s capacity to pursue organised crime and corruption, including cooperation with nations trading in Guyana’s gold.
Gold smuggling is as old as the industry and no Guyanese will deny that trying to intercept illegal exchanges between small miners and big exporters is almost like searching for a needle in a bale of grass. But if the needle is there it can always be found, the speed depending on the search method.
While the police can investigate and accused persons and/or representatives of entities can be arrested and charged, it’s the courts that provide the legal and judicial platforms for prosecution and defence, which can be a long or short process according to evidence and law.
Cases can take months or years, but they always end with justice served according to the law, no matter how the accused and accusers feel about the magistrate’s or judge’s decisions.
Crime and corruption exist in every society and none has ever been able to successfully do away with either because greed is a basic human condition that always exists for those to whom nothing is ever enough, always ready and willing to undertake the next scheme, fearless and careless about being caught, or who suffers in the process.
The amount of money illegal gold exporters denied the Guyana treasury is inestimable and mostly unrecoverable, but the recent disclosures and evidence now in the hands of local investigators and anti-corruption entities have opened another wide door for continuing investigations at home and abroad – and not only into gold smuggling — but also money laundering and other new and more-sophisticated forms of so-called ‘White Collar’ crime.
Crime and corruption know no borders or boundaries, but it’s what serious governments do about them that decides the extent of successfully combating and reducing incidents and eventually eliminating avenues used by criminals–big and small — and their facilitators, whether in the police or Public Service.
It’s natural to politicise crime ahead of elections campaigns and the political opposition – weaker today than ever – will certainly try to roll their dices with the hope of striking gold between now and election day.
As President Ali has assured, quick action by the local authorities has identified several weaknesses, and this PPP-Civic administration unlike any other, is working to tighten loose ends.
The silver lining around the dark cloud in this case, therefore, is that much has been disclosed that will certainly help the government and law authorities much more, as they continue to take the tough fight to organised crime and corruption.
