Latest update December 13th, 2024 1:00 AM
Burke implicated in alleged extortion of businessman
– says police should focus on cleaning up its image tarred by money laundering, corruption
Kaieteur News – Rickford Burke, a U.S.-based Guyanese national, has been implicated in an extortion conspiracy targeting a local businessman.
Rickford Burke, a U.S.-based Guyanese national
The Guyana Police Force (GPF) in a statement on Friday provided an update on the ongoing trial. It was reported that the prosecution’s main witness has testified fingering Burke’s in the alleged criminal scheme. The trial is set to continue on September 13, with the cross-examination of the prosecution’s main witness. Back in 2022, Dorwin Bess, Marlon Gary Eleazar, and Alex Wayne were charged at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court on two counts of Conspiracy to Commit a Felony against businessman, Afras Mohamed. In August 2023, Burke was also charged with the same offences, as it was alleged that he conspired with the other three individuals to extort money from the businessman. The trial is being heard at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court before Senior Magistrate Fabayo Azore.
According to the police, the witness stated that he was introduced to Burke by Bess, who described Burke as his former business partner and close friend. He further alleged that Bess instructed him to contact Afras Mohamed, posing as a reporter from Burke’s GNN website, and demand a response to an article claiming the businessman was defrauding the government.
According to the main witness, Bess then sent the alleged fabricated article to him, which he forwarded to Mohamed. The witness said that after the article was published on the GNN website, he and Eleazar met with the businessman and demanded a payment of $150,000 to remove the article. Eleazar, had reportedly admitted to writing the article, received an initial $50,000 payment from Mohamed, but was unable to log in and remove the content from the website at the time. Wayne had admitted that he, Bess, and Eleazar had tried to extort money from Mohamed, and that it was a threefold plan initiated by Bess. Bess had Eleazar write the article, then sent it to Burke to be posted on the GNN website, and Wayne was to approach Mohamed pretending to be a reporter.
Meanwhile, in a swift response Burke said the Guyana Police Force (GDF) is now in the business of writing fake articles on its website for political purposes to smear Bharrat Jagdeo’s personal enemies. “Today (Friday), the leadership of the GPF published an article on its Facebook Page claiming that damning evidence was presented in court against me. This article was accompanied by a distorted photograph of me…this is gutter politics. No wonder the GPF’s image is in tatters and it is the laughing stock of the nation.”
Burke argued that there can be no evidence against him. “I do not live in Guyana and I have not visited Guyana for over 25 years. It is therefore foolish for the Guyana Police Force to, on behalf of Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, claim that I committed a crime in Guyana.
I have been reliably informed by a GPF source that the GPF article was published on instructions from Guyana’s Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, who on Thursday attacked me at a press conference. I responded forcefully. Bharrat Jagdeo is a coward. He should stop pretending to be a strong man, and stop hiding behind the GPF, and face me like a man.” “I challenge the leadership of the Guyana Police Force to take time off from their money laundering and various other criminal corruption schemes, and find and present this so-called evidence against me to the public,” Burke said.
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