BLAZE AT MINISTRY OF HEALTH IS OUT, BUT NEW

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