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FM
Former Member
Government ignored overtures from Canada in Sash Sawh murder case – brother-in-law
By STABROEK STAFF | LOCAL | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2011

Canada was ready and willing to assist Guyana with its investigations into the April 22, 2006 slaying of Agriculture Minister Satyadeow Sawh, his siblings and a security guard but government never made a request. According to two letters seen by this newspaper—one from the Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister and the other from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)—interest was shown in the case but the Guyana Government never gave a positive response.

Sawh’s brother-in-law Bob Persaud who lost his wife Phulmattie Persaud called ‘Julie,’ in the chilling attack had written to the Canadian government for help to “put this matter to rest”. He finally got a response this year. Minister Sawh was a Canadian citizen but returned home in 1992 after he was called to be part of the PPP/C government. A letter from Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon to Persaud dated January 4, 2011, stated that in the weeks following the incident “Canada made known its expectations regarding the case to Guyanese officials”. The letter said the High Commissioner of Canada met President Bharrat Jagdeo on April 28, 2006 requesting a thorough investigation to be undertaken. Later on


Satyadeow Sawh

May 1, 2006, it said, a diplomatic note was sent to Guyanese officials reaffirming Canada’s interest in the case. The letter noted that while the Canadian government couldn’t intervene in legal proceedings in other countries, it could be assured that Canadian officials followed the developments of local investigations. Cannon noted in the letter that matters related to the involvement of Canadian officials in criminal investigations abroad fall under the RCMP and that a copy of Persaud’s letter to him had been forwarded to the Minister of Public Safety who is also responsible for RCMP.

Months later, Persaud received his second letter from RCMP’s Head Vic Toews dated June 28, 2011. Toews, after apologizing for the delayed response, expressed his condolences. The rest of the letter in its entirety is as follows: “Let me assure you that the death of Canadians abroad under such circumstances is always a concern to the Canadian government. When a criminal act involving Canadians is committed in another county it is the responsibility of the police service of that jurisdiction to investigate. As a member of Interpol, the RCMP responds to request for information and conducts criminal record checks. In addition if a request for assistance from Guyana is received the RCMP will provide assistance to international law enforcement agencies particularly when a crime involves Canadians or Canadian interests.” Persaud, after reading the letters to this newspaper recently, expressed surprise that no request was made especially since Sawh was a Canadian. “Canada was willing to help and they refused it,” the very upset man told this newspaper during the interview.

Recently, it was revealed in secret diplomatic cables released via WikiLeaks that former US Ambassador Roland Bullen had said that he had been told that requests for assistance had also been made to Canada and the UK. However, he said that from discussions, senior security officials were unaware of these requests. Bullen said too that then Minister of Home Affairs, Gail Teixeira; Police Commissioner, Winston Felix and Army Chief of Staff, Edwards Collins, were ignorant of these requests for help.

Around 12.15 am on that day seven masked gunmen dressed in military fatigues invaded the minister’s LBI home and riddled him, his two siblings and Security Guard Curtis Robertson with bullets. Reports were that the minister’s wife Sattie and his brother Omprakash Sawh were in the kitchen when they saw a masked gunman looking at them through a window. Sattie had said that she alerted the minister who was in his hammock on the veranda, but before he could escape to safety, he was riddled with shots. He collapsed just inside his front door.

Sawh’s brother Omprakash hid his sister Phulmattie Persaud underneath a bed, but the gunmen found her and after dragging her out shot her in the face. The gunmen then turned their weapons on the minister again and at the same time placed Omprakash on top of another brother Rajpat Sawh to execute them both. Omprakash said he begged the men for his sister’s life and gave them $23,000, a digital camera and a watch. He said he and his brother were praying for their lives, but before the gunmen left they fired another shot at them killing Rajpat.
Omprakash and security guards Albert Mangra and Aga Khan were injured.

Murder not a threat to democracy

Persaud dispelled government’s statements to the US that Sawh’s murder was the greatest threat to democracy. The upset man said that that statement was not a genuine one. “The government is in cahoots with the criminals. They are the ones destroying the democracy…. The greatest threat is the corrupt government officials, the police, the army and civil servants. That is the threat to society…,” he said. He said his dead brother-in-law was a victim of the bribery and corruption in Guyana. “The democracy is a joke. I told government people that the only form of democracy is going to the polls,” he said adding that the government was never serious about getting to the bottom of the slayings.

According to Persaud, a lot of security experts have said that “the investigation was upside down”. He pointed out that professionals were involved and the police should have been looking for the person/s who organised the killings. “Those gunmen were just hired guns and there must be somebody higher and influential behind these killings and that/those person/s could be friends or associates of the current government. We don’t know that for sure but we believe that is so,” he said. He said there must be a reason why the government was so reluctant to pursue the case in a professional manner. “This is another cover up. They are pretending to be concerned about democracy just as how they were determined to eliminate the suspected killers of Sawh but failed to investigate who put the gunmen up to this,” he stated.

The Roger Khan link

According to the leaked cables, Roger Khan was cited as a possible suspect. A forest concession that Khan was on the verge of acquiring in the south of the country was withdrawn while Sawh was minister with responsibility for forestry. Persaud had made attempts to visit Khan at the US jail where he is currently serving a 15-year sentence and to extract information about the “hit list.” He told this newspaper that he managed to speak to the prosecutor in Khan’s case earlier this year about the situation and “he said that he couldn’t help me to see him [Khan]”. He, according to Persaud also said that because of the prosecution, the US could not release much information. He said when he mentioned Roger Khan to the prosecutor his words were: “He is a bad, bad man.”

Persaud pointed to Khan’s alliance to the government, explaining that when he was caught with the wire tapping machine no proper charges were laid. “If the US government did not put pressure on them [the government] to issue a wanted bulletin for Roger Khan, he could have still been walking the streets of Guyana”. As for other relatives, he said “they are coping and are still taken aback by the incident to this date. They are still in shock and awe as to what happened”.

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quote:
Persaud dispelled government’s statements to the US that Sawh’s murder was the greatest threat to democracy. The upset man said that that statement was not a genuine one. “The government is in cahoots with the criminals. They are the ones destroying the democracy…. The greatest threat is the corrupt government officials, the police, the army and civil servants. That is the threat to society…,” he said. He said his dead brother-in-law was a victim of the bribery and corruption in Guyana. “The democracy is a joke. I told government people that the only form of democracy is going to the polls,” he said adding that the government was never serious about getting to the bottom of the slayings.


Wow! Now that is not coming from the AFC. Let's see what the PPP apologists will say now. Come in DG, Rama_Cyant, etc.
T
quote:
Originally posted by TK_REDUX:
quote:
Persaud dispelled government’s statements to the US that Sawh’s murder was the greatest threat to democracy. The upset man said that that statement was not a genuine one. “The government is in cahoots with the criminals. They are the ones destroying the democracy…. The greatest threat is the corrupt government officials, the police, the army and civil servants. That is the threat to society…,” he said. He said his dead brother-in-law was a victim of the bribery and corruption in Guyana. “The democracy is a joke. I told government people that the only form of democracy is going to the polls,” he said adding that the government was never serious about getting to the bottom of the slayings.


Wow! Now that is not coming from the AFC. Let's see what the PPP apologists will say now. Come in DG, Rama_Cyant, etc.

Laud 'ave mercy, is weh dem bais deh.
FM
dam bais dont realize that their non cooperation with US and Canada in situations like these are creating nails for their coffins. Canada was not cooperating with US in the drug situation in Guyana but now they are talking because Sat's family have been pushing the Canadian Govt .
FM
quote:
Originally posted by kidmost:
dam bais dont realize that their non cooperation with US and Canada in situations like these are creating nails for their coffins. Canada was not cooperating with US in the drug situation in Guyana but now they are talking because Sat's family have been pushing the Canadian Govt .


And as Canadian citizens who were killed, the Canadian government is listening.
Canada has great interest in Guyana,including the days when Burnham hosted Trudeau's visit in the 70s.
How many world leaders visited Guyana under Jagdeo's reign ? Jagdeo was never at home.
Tola
when the guyana government give roger khan the power to kill they create a monster so he kill the minister i hope one day this givernment can be try for all the crime they help committ
W
Leaked embassy cables reveal…Interesting perspectives by US envoy on “Sash” Sawh killing
AUGUST 27, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS

Two days after the shocking 2006 murder of former Minister of Fisheries, Satyadeow “Sash” Sawh, senior Guyanese functionaries had met the then United States Ambassador Roland Bullen asking for help to solve the case and recover more than 30-AK47s that went missing from the army. According to recently released embassy cables from the whistleblower website, Wikileaks, the local US Embassy, headed by then Ambassador Roland Bullen, were examining at least three theories that led to the killing of the “jocular” Minister – one of the being a retaliation from a militant, Buxton –based group and two others that were linked with drugs.


Satyadeow “Sash” Sawh

The cables which were supposed to be confidential and sent by the local embassy to the US Secretary of State, also spoke of President’s Bharrat Jagdeo’s mood at the meeting. According to the cables, Sawh was killed on April 22, and on April 24, Bullen met with Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, then later with President Jagdeo, to discuss the government of Guyana’s (GOG) request for security related assistance. “Jagdeo and Luncheon essentially admitted that the public’s patience with the GOG’s performance on security is wearing thin, and they are looking for a response that “captures the public’s imagination”. The GOG has also asked Canada and the UK for help,” the cable dated May 4 said.
The cables were detailed.

“Jagdeo’s mood was somber, with a visibly furrowed brow. Minister Sawh’s killing has clearly hit senior GOG officials hard. Their psychological moat that made them feel separated and protected from Guyana’s security problem has vanished.” The Ambassador, in the cable, said that according to Luncheon, Jagdeo has just about exhausted the Guyana security forces’ investigative capabilities and so they are forced to seek greater international assistance. “Post’s impression is that Sawh’s killing has really woken up senior GOG politicos to the loss of state control over the country’s security.”

Dr. Luncheon, followed up with a written request for help, admitting that the government had recognized that the assassination of Minister Sawh has created the gravest threat to the country’s democracy. “Significantly, there are other threats associated with the existence of the criminal gang in Buxton and the intellectual authors of their crimes. Also the loss of the large number of AK-47 weapons from the military is still unexplained and recovery unrealised.” Luncheon asked for assistance expanding investigations into the loss of the AK-47 weapons from the military, leading to the recovery, enhancing the Criminal Investigation Department’s investigation into the murder of Minister Sawh and his family, and for crime fighting equipment for an elite force. The Ambassador also said that Minister of Home Affairs, Gail Teixeira; the Commissioner of Police, Winston Felix, and the Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, Brigadier Edward Collins, were consulted prior to dispatching this request.


Roland Bullen

“Rather, the request reflects what President Jagdeo, Luncheon and the Cabinet want during this moment of sorrow and possibly panic.” Regarding the theories for the killing of Sawh, his sister, brother and security guard at the Minister’s LBI’s resident, the Embassy said it heard many stories about the motives. In the first instance there was a political angle. “A militant, presumably Afro-Guyanese anti-government faction wants to gain greater political power but feels it cannot do so through Guyana’s democratic process. The GOG is peddling this theory, and the GOG leadership is paranoid about a treasonous cadre of current and former military and police officers. This militant group is centered in Buxton, a coastal village approximately six miles east of Georgetown that is essentially beyond state control.”

The embassy at that time said it believed that a corollary to this theory is that Sawh was targeted in revenge for the January, 2006, killing of prominent Afro-Guyanese journalist and “rabble-rouser”, Ronald Waddell. “To this end, the joint services have engaged in a series of searches of Buxton, which have netted night vision goggles, military uniforms, and other pieces of military equipment. Ballistics tests performed at spent shells from the Sawh murder scene prove that the same weapons were used in the February 26 Agricola/Eccles massacre and another gruesome shooting/beheading in Agricola in March 2005.”

According to Bullen, Luncheon, the government’s spokesman, might have fueled the political angle when he publicly mused in the April 27 post-Cabinet briefing that unspecified members of the PNCR have contacts with the bandits in Buxton. “However, he explicitly stopped short of linking the PNCR to Sawh’s murder.” “Another angle was that Sawh was involved in criminal activities. Sawh was said to be close with a suspected money launderer (named) and known alien smuggler who owns a fish farm “which appears to be a money laundering operation.” The cable disclosed that this “money launderer” was previously arrested with several Guyanese and U.S. passports but later was acquitted of wrongdoing. “As Minister responsible for fisheries, Sawh would have had an ostensible reason to meet with …(named).”

However, another theory was the Sawh was a “clean minister relative to many of his peers. Sawh took too strong a stand against criminal activity. Some are saying that Sawh took a lead role in urging the Cabinet not to issue forestry permits to suspect concerns, which pitted him against the drug lords.”

WikiLeaks, which released the secret cables, is an international non-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more than 1.2 million documents within a year of its launch. It has been highly controversial and raised the ire of several governments across the globe for the potentially embarrassing leaks.

[url=http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2011/08/27/leaked-embassy-cables-reveal%E2%80%A6interesting-perspectives-by-us-envoy-on-%E2%80%9Csash%E2%80%9D-sawh-killing/]Source[/url
Mitwah

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