President Bharrat Jagdeo, on Friday, September 2, said no evidence was supplied to him by embassy officials in Guyana to dissuade him from appointing Henry Greene as police commissioner, despite claims being made against the top cop of profiting from the drug trade.
The Guyanese head of state also said that Western diplomats had wanted to influence his appointment of a police commissioner following the retirement of Winston Felix, something which he would not countenance. In recently released cables by Wikileaks, it was noted that the U.S. government had indicated to Guyana that they were conducting investigations over a five-year period dating back to 2006, and it was illustrated that Greene was involved in illicit activities that would prove to be detrimental to Guyana if he were appointed COP. According to the Wikileaks report, a former senior officer of U.S Embassy, following the announcement that Greene would be appointed police commissioner after the 2006 elections, the UK, U.S. and EU officials all expressed “grave concern at Greene’s elevation, even if only temporarily.”
Police Commissioner Henry Greene
Speaking at a news conference on Friday, President Jagdeo called on citizens not to wholeheartedly believe all information released by the cables. He told reporters that he was indeed approached by several foreign missions, to forego his decision to appoint Greene from crime chief to police commissioner following Winston Felix demitting office.
“They came to me and said we have information on Henry Greene … he has been the subject of investigation for the past five years. They have been watching him, and we would not like you to appoint him commissioner. So I asked the official, ‘but he is now crime chief, did you not see it fit all of these years to come and tell me that my crime chief was involved in drug trafficking or whatever?’ They didn’t tell me the nature of the investigations.
“But you had this info on crime chief, it is only now that he is going to be elevated to the position of commissioner of police that you see it fit to tell me?’ Why didn’t you tell us before? Why didn’t you tell the head of the police force at that time, so we could have gotten rid of him?’ ” Jagdeo added that, at the time, the information was presented to him in a piecemeal manner; that is why he asked the embassy official to provide detailed evidence of the allegations or findings. “… so I said, ‘could you get more information? Can you give me the evidence? If you give me the evidence, show me the documents about the investigation and his linkages and so on, I may consider the matter.’”
Guyana’s president noted it is his belief that the foreign officials were trying to influence his choice of police commissioner, an act he described as uncharacteristic of his principles. “Often it is about who gives in to these foreign powers. They want to influence who becomes commissioner. You think we could do that in their country? They would say ‘this is not your business’. They wanted me to take a leap of faith in their words and not appoint a citizen of this country.
The president said he then proceeded to appoint Greene as COP in the absence of any evidence linking him to the drug trade.
“I have strong faith in him,” the president stated with much confidence.
