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DE RUEHGE #0418/01 2122051
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P 312051Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN
TO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7376
INFO RHMFISS/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L GEORGETOWN 000418 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/31/2030 
TAGS: GY PHUM PREL SNAR
SUBJECT: BLAZE AT MINISTRY OF HEALTH IS OUT, BUT NEW 
ALLEGATIONS KEEP FIRES BURNING 
 
Classified By: CDA Williams for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  SUMMARY: Testimony in the U.S. trial of a Guyanese 
drug kingpin,s lawyer alleged that the Minister of Health 
(and AMCIT) Leslie Ramsammy gave narco-trafficker and death 
squad leader Shaheed 'Roger' Khan the necessary permission 
from the GoG to purchase sensitive eavesdropping equipment in 
Florida.  In response to the revelation, opposition members 
organized a walkout in Parliament and protested the GoG,s 
continued refusal to investigate allegations related to Khan. 
 This latest accusation against Ramsammy comes two weeks 
after the Ministry of Health burned down in an arson attack 
amid rumors of an impending accounting investigation.  Both 
of these events attest to the depth of corruption in the GoG 
and its inability or unwillingness to address it.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
TESTIMONY EXPOSES GOG 
 
¶2.  (U)  Revelation in U.S. court that Guyanese drug kingpin 
and death squad leader Shaheed  Roger, Khan 
purchased high-tech spy equipment from a Florida firm using a 
letter signed by Minister of Health Dr. Leslie Ramsammy shook 
the Guyanese political scene July 30 and 31.  The director of 
Smith Myers, the British manufacturer of the cellular 
intercept equipment in question, made the accusation during 
the trial of Khan,s attorney, Robert Simels.  Simels is on 
trial for plotting to kill a witness against Khan.  The Smith 
Myers director stated that while the equipment does not 
require a U.S. export license as  maintained by the GoG, it 
could only be sold to governments for law enforcement 
purposes, not individuals.  A separate witness also made 
public Khan,s role in the plot to kidnap the wife of the 
former DCM at Embassy Georgetown, which led to his 
curtailment in September 2007. 
 
¶3.  (U)  The testimony comes as an embarrassment to the GoG, 
which has maintained it never authorized the purchase of such 
an apparatus.  Guyana Police Force (GPF) in fact seized the 
equipment in a December 2002 run-in with Khan and several 
cohorts.  As recently as June 2008 President Jagdeo and the 
Chief of Police maintained the equipment remained safely in 
GPF custody despite the fact that U.S. authorities found it 
in Simel,s possession.  Since then the GoG has continued to 
erroneously argue it could not have authorized the purchase 
because the equipment fell under strict U.S. export controls. 
 
SMOLDERING ISSUES 
 
¶4.  (C)  Links between Khan, who is suspected in 
masterminding more than 200 murders in Guyana, and 
Ramsammy are strong.  A close associate of Khan worked with 
Ramsammy in the Ministry of Health, and the former death 
squad leader himself is widely rumored to have had regular 
Saturday meetings with the Minister.  While being pursued by 
U.S. law enforcement in 2006, Khan put Ramsammy,s name 
forward as a potential mediator between him and the USG. 
Ramsammy, who is a U.S. citizen, emphatically denies that he 
provided a letter giving Khan the GoG,s permission to 
purchase the equipment, and postulated to Embassy officials 
that his signature was forged on Ministry of Health 
letterhead. 
 
¶5.  (U)  The current revelation about the Minister of Health 
follows the  channa-bombing,--a Guyanese version of the 
Molotov cocktail using chick-peas and gasoline--of the 
Ministry of Health,s main building in the early hours of 
July 17.  The GoG claims it was a politically motivated 
attack and arrested a number of suspects, some of whom have 
emerged from police custody with signs of severe 
mistreatment.  However, rumors in Georgetown link the attack 
to the Khan case, or an accounting investigation at the 
Ministry. 
 
¶6.  (U)  Ramsammy and other high-level GoG officials, 
connection to Khan have been widely known for years, and the 
government is believed to have sanctioned Khan,s  Phantom, 
death squad and drug trafficking because it was unable to 
restore order following a 2002 prison break.  The GoG has 
resisted calls to investigate any allegations related to 
Khan--though it did ask the Embassy for any information the 
USG had in the case.  Most recently, the Speaker of the 
National Assembly Ralph Ramkarran disallowed a motion 
enabling the body to investigate the link between Ramsammy 
and Khan.  In protest the opposition leader hurled a set of 
law books off his desk and stormed out of Parliament followed 
by the rest of the opposition.  The majority People,s 
Progressive Party (PPP) responded by using the walkout as an 
opportunity to pass its version of a local government reform 
bill without opposition. 
 
 
COMMENT 
 
¶7.  (C)  While opposition parties are making noise about the 
government,s most recent troubles and will likely use the 
incident to make its case in the run-up to the 2011 
presidential elections, some Guyanese greet the disclosures 
with a frustrated shrug.  Jagdeo and the PPP won re-election 
in 2006 with the Khan issue in the public domain, and the 
2011 election will largely hinge on the opposition,s ability 
to establish credibility with the public.  Sentiment is 
running high against the government, but the lack of an 
alternative (the leading opposition party is widely seen as 
just a different version of the same corrupt governance) 
leave people no place to turn. 
 
¶8.  (C)  The more troubling aspect of the continuing fallout 
of the Khan trials is that it demonstrates the depth of 
corruption in the current government and its unwillingness or 
inability to address it.  The GoG has made no indication it 
plans to remove Ramsammy and has resisted every attempt to 
investigate the depth of Khan,s influence in Guyana.  It 
will likely continue to distance itself from the Khan 
controversy and focus attention on finding the perpetrators 
of (or scapegoats for) the Ministry of Health arson attack. 
 
¶9.  (SBU)  The Ministry of Health is the largest partner of 
the Embassy in Guyana and has been key to the PEPFAR 
program,s success in country to date.  Nevertheless, Post is 
reviewing its relationship with the Ministry in light of the 
recent allegations and the catastrophic fire.  As Jagdeo 
continues to push for international funding for his Low 
Carbon Development Strategy and a full Millennium Challenge 
Account, donor countries should consider the government,s 
high tolerance for official corruption and 
Jagdeo,s repeated demonstration that he will not take a 
stand against it.  END COMMENT. 
Williams