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Rohee dismisses cybercrime and kidnapping allegations as reckless
Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee has described as reckless, allegations that the state is engaged in kidnapping and cybercrime.
Rohee was referring to claims made by Guyana-born Canadian-based Immigration Consultant Balwant Persaud in a Canada court while representing a Guyanese husband and wife who successfully obtained refugee status in that country.
According to the Minister, the claims, which he said were made without offering a scintilla of evidence, are not only reckless, but are also tantamount to creating public mischief –a criminal offence in Guyana.Balwant Persaud
The man, an IT specialist, had indicated to the Canadian court, through Balwant Persaud, that the Minister of Home Affairs, in the presence of a senior police officer and a well known hit man, had offered him cash to hack into the e-mail account of political opponents of the government.
According to successful asylum seeker, when he refused, his wife was kidnapped and taken to a city establishment linked to the Minister where she was stripped and threatened, to get her to convince her husband to accept the offer.
Instead of addressing the issue, Rohee attacked Persaud, describing him as a known shady character who operates in the refugee seekers’ market in Canada.
“Persaud’s “pre-submission” to the Canadian Authority in favour of two Guyanese refugee seekers in Canada smacks of wild and unsubstantiated allegations in respect of the Office of the Ministry of Home Affairs,” Rohee said, adding that Balwant Persaud has accused the Government of Guyana of engaging in certain activities to justify his application for refugee claimants.
Rohee denied ever meeting the IT specialist or his wife, contrary to Persaud’s claims.
He noted that Persaud chose to roll out his story in a foreign jurisdiction, making serious allegations against a serving Minister of Government.
“If these occurrences did take place in Guyana why were they never reported to the Guyana Police Force before the refugee seekers were hustled away to Canada?”
Rohee said that it is regrettable that the Ministry of Home Affairs was never offered the opportunity by the Canadian Authorities to respond on behalf of the Government of Guyana to the unsubstantiated “disclosures” by Persaud.
However, he noted that from all appearances Persaud did succeed in duping the Canadian Authorities into believing his story.
Rohee warned that whenever Persaud chooses to visit Guyana again, he will be expected to inform the local law enforcement agencies about these allegations against the Minister.
“Anyone making such spurious allegations against a Minister of Home Affairs of any country must support the allegations with incontrovertible evidence. Moreover, to level such charges against the Minister who is responsible for public order is to parrot the jaundiced view by some that a state of lawlessness obtains in Guyana – a claim that has repeatedly been exposed time and again as false and deserves to be scoffed at by all right thinking Guyanese and the international community,” Rohee stated.
He added that what makes Persaud’s claims even more scandalous is the position adopted by the Canadian Authority to believe such unadulterated nonsense from a “loose cannon”, and a man with a tainted character without seeking to clarify the lies and slanders in Persaud’s submission.
“However, whenever he returns to Guyana Mr. Persaud would be expected to demonstrate a sense of responsibility by immediately reporting these matters to the Police so that they could be investigated thoroughly.
“In the meantime as Minister of Home Affairs I reject in its entirety Balwant Persaud’s falsehoods presented to the Canadian Authority,” the Home Affairs Mminister said.
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