…AG’s Chambers given 2 weeks to produce G$54M in diamonds which vanished from Police hands
Justice Fidela Corbin-Lincoln has given the Attorney General’s Chambers two weeks to locate some G$54 million in missing diamonds, which vanished from Police hands sometime after a 1994 robbery investigation.
At a hearing before this High Court Judge on Monday, lawyers for the AG’s Chambers claimed being unable to contact several Police officers connected to the probe. This revelation comes in the wake of retired Police Commissioner Floyd McDonald breaking his silence by denying that he had handled the missing diamonds.
The case has garnered increased attention following the AG publishing notices in the press calling for several Police ranks to make contact with his chambers. Some of those called for are now elderly men.
Floyd McDonald
Basil Williams
The matter stems from a civil suit that businessman Ronald Khan brought against the State in 2011, seeking to recoup his uncut diamonds that went missing.
In court documents seen by this publication, the Statement of Claim contends that Khan’s Ewang Creek Mining Camp in Region Eight was robbed of the diamonds in 1994. However, the precious merchandise was recovered by Guyana Police Force ranks and taken to the Mahdia Police Station, where it was inspected and the quantity was verified. The stones were then transported to Police in “E” and “F” Division.
The suit also indicated that Khan was disallowed from having the property returned to him, which he says was his “at all material times.”
“The plaintiff was informed that the said diamonds were required as exhibits in the criminal trial of the persons charged with the armed robbery of the plaintiff’s camp. Despite the passage of several years, the Guyana Police Force was unable to conclude the prosecution of the alleged defendants, as some have [sic] escaped and others (have) subsequently died,” an excerpt of the writ highlighted.
According to court documents, Khan even wrote the late Police Commissioner Henry Greene in 2010, requesting the return of his diamonds. The businessman said that while his letter was acknowledged, he failed to have his property returned.
As the matter continued at the High Court on Monday, Justice Corbin-Lincoln told both sides that the case will not be dragging on, and she gave Joan Edghill-Stuart of the Attorney General’s Chambers until May 22 to update the court on the status of the criminal case involving the 1994 robbery, and to locate the missing diamonds.
Edghill-Stuart has, however, stressed that the AG has been unable to contact various parties involved in the case. She even noted that their names have been published in official notices in the daily newspapers. Earlier in the day’s proceedings, this attorney had told the court that she is not in receipt of information pertaining to the status of the criminal matter or the diamonds.
This revelation prompted the Judge to query the merit of ascertaining this information. In response, Kezia Williams, a lawyer who appeared in the place of Khan’s attorney, Nigel Hughes, told Justice Corbin-Lincoln that the plaintiff is willing to settle once the State returns his diamonds. Nevertheless, he is seeking in excess of G$100,000 in damages, interests and court costs.
In the notices published in the daily newspapers, former Police Commissioner Floyd McDonald, who served as Crime Chief in 1994, was named, but on Sunday he responded to an article in the State newspaper, denying he had ever received, seen, examined, or sent to examine, any diamonds in relation to Ronald Khan.
McDonald, who retired in 2004, was also quoted as saying that he was not in the Force when the diamonds supposedly went missing. Also, that the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) headquarters did not keep exhibits. His disclosure contradicts claims that diamonds were handed over to him after inspection by a diamond dealer.
Aside from McDonald, those whom the AG asked to make urgent contact are: Harley Davidson, Deputy Crime Chief; Eon Sandy, who had been stationed at the Supreme Criminal Court’s Police Outpost; and Alwyn Wilson, who was stationed at then ‘E’ and ‘F’ Division headquarters at Eve Leary.
Notices were also sent out for Terrence Semple, who was last stationed at Mahdia Police Station; Courtney Ramsey and Desmond Leitch, both last stationed at the CID; Constable Fraser (Reg Number: 10881), and ex-Detective Sergeant Carl Wilson (Reg Number: 7797).
