While the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) set up to probe allegations of a plot to assassinate President David Granger has already commenced its work, members
President David Granger
of the public will be free to listen in to the testimonies from today.
The CoI, which commenced on July 11, will seek to: inquire into persons, places, time and circumstances and events by and through which allegations and reports came to be made of an intention to assassinate the President; investigate the full range of the actions and responses of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to the reports and the extent to which such actions were conducted or executed with due diligence; determine whether any person, and in particular, officers of the GPF had information before and after reports were made of a plan to assassinate the President and whether any such officers communicated that information to a superior authority.
Commissioners will also record and report on what official action was taken on the basis of the information received and whether there was due diligence by the officers of the GPF in the investigation of the plan to assassinate the President and determine whether there was failure, neglect or omission to thoroughly and properly investigate the plan to assassinate the President and determine whether such failure or omission was intentional.
The Commissioners will seek to also determine the blameworthiness for the failure or neglect of officers or persons involved in the investigation and recommend action to be taken against persons found to be blameworthy.
They will also recommend steps that can be taken to prevent the recurrence of such incident and identify systemic issues, if any, in the GPF’s competence to investigate matters of this nature.
The CoI secretariat is now inviting persons desirous of giving evidence and/or making submissions to do so before the Commission.
Assistant Police Commissioner Paul Slowe was sworn in to head the CoI. He is being assisted by five other persons.
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo had opined last month that the move by the Head of State to set up a CoI into the allegation demonstrated his lack of confidence in the Police Force, a claim denied by Government.
“You need another CoI…into this? That means you don’t trust your security forces or the Police to investigate this. You are saying that somebody didn’t investigate this properly,” Jagdeo had said
Reports had surfaced in April this year of an alleged plot to assassinate the Head of State.
Shortly after news broke of investigations into the alleged plot, the complainant, a well-known barber of Grove, East Bank Demerara (EBD), appeared on a local private television station to relate his story.
In that interview, the barber revealed that he was offered $7 million and given a “long black gun” by a businessman to carry out the job of assassinating the President, but he had declined the offer.
Reports indicated that he subsequently filed a complaint with the Police. However, the alleged witness to the offer had told investigators during the confrontation that the complainant had contacted him and offered a sum of money in exchange for him giving a statement claiming that he (the alleged witness) was present when two businessmen contacted the complainant about allegedly assassinating the President.
According to a Police source, the complainant had only made the monetary offer after he informed the Police of the assassination plot.
