Latest update December 13th, 2024 12:10 AM
Police return Peter Ramsaroop’s equipment
Peter Ramsaroop and lawyer Robert Corbin examine the equipment after leaving the CID compound at Eve Leary.
Following an order by the Chief Justice (ag) Ian Chang, the Guyana Police Force has returned the four computer hard drives along with a recorder to businessman Peter Ramsaroop.
Sometime around 16:00 hours yesterday, Ramsaroop and his lawyer Robert Corbin went to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at Eve Leary. The two men soon emerged, with the businessman holding black plastic bags which contained the items.
This newspaper understands that the order instructing the police to return the equipment was lodged yesterday and Corbin was contacted to go and collect the equipment before 16:30 hours.
Ramsaroop was also asked while at the station to produce the receipt he received when he was placed on bail so that the money could be returned.
Speaking to media operatives yesterday at the CID compound, Corbin said that he was thankful that the police complied with the order and did not force him to have to institute contempt proceedings.
He said that as far as he and his client were concerned this is the end of the contentious matter.
Corbin said that they knew for some time now that there was nothing to support the allegations made against Ramsaroop
“They told us some time ago that they could find nothing (on the hard drives)”
Ramsaroop told media operatives that the equipment did appear to be the ones seized, but he will be certain when the equipment is placed back in his computers.
He was quick to point out that, “We will put our experts on it.”
This, he said, was in response to whether he was fearful that anything untoward was embedded into his hard drives such as hacking programmes.
Corbin told media operatives that the action taken subsequent to the allegations by Ramsaroop’s one-time tenant Nicole Ming, were “an obvious attempt to tarnish the character of a very promising politician in this country.”
He said that the fact that the equipment was detained for such a long time, despite the fact that nothing untoward had been found, gave room for the state media to attempt to sully Ramsaroop’s character.
He pointed to the fact that throughout the proceedings they kept hearing that the instructions were “from higher up.”
Ramsaroop said that he will continue to fight the “dictatorial government” to ensure that the rights of every Guyanese as well as future generations are not violated.
As it relates to the National Communications Network and the Guyana Chronicle, Ramsaroop said that they had been scandalous and he along with his attorney are working on a way to address matters in that regard.
There was recent talk of a lawsuit against the two state-owned entities.
Chief Justice Chang had lambasted the police as he made the order to have the police return the seized equipment owned by the businessman.
Justice Chang also found that the search warrant executed by the police was flawed as it was signed by a Justice of the Peace. The warrant was supposed to have been signed by a Magistrate and the matter heard in a timely manner.
It was pointed out that for the police to come two months later and say that they didn’t have the technical competence to properly assess what was on the hard drives that were seized was lunacy.
Justice Chang also noted that the police cannot seize and keep a person’s property then take their own precious time to institute charges.
Police had swooped down on properties owned by Ramsaroop, conducted searches and seized the equipment following allegations by his then tenant Nicole Ming that he was recording her covertly.
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