On September 29, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) issued a Wanted Bulletin for President of the New York-based Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) Rickford Burke for questioning in relation to conspiracy to extort money from Guyanese businessman, Arfaaz Mohamed of BM SOAT Auto.
Burke also said that the company was “ripping off “hundreds of people”, and uses it “connections” within the police force to dodge justice.
In a statement yesterday, the CGID said that Burke is being “framed”. “They are out to destroy his credibility and reputation. They will fail! They will destroy theirs instead,” the organisation said.
It added that its attorneys have reviewed the evidence and witness statements gathered and by the Guyana Police Force in connection with these allegations. It concluded that the witnesses do not know Burke, and “the GPF has no reason, basis or jurisdiction to issue a Wanted Bulletin”.
“We therefore demand that the Bulletin be withdrawn or we will sue the Government, Crime Chief and Commissioner of Police in Federal Court in New York.”
The CGID, which has been critical of the government, dubbed the bulletin as a “political stunt and another crime of transnational repression to silence Burke and CGID”.
The organisation noted that Burke lives in the United States, and a fundamental constitutional doctrine of criminal law is that crimes are prosecuted in the jurisdiction in which they occur.
“He committed no crime. He is a law-abiding citizen and respected, high profile leader in New York. Nonetheless, since the GPF has the audacity to issue a wanted bulletin for Mr. Burke, they must explain their nonsensical claim that a person who is physically in New York, committed a crime in Guyana, and what law gives them jurisdiction to police someone in the US? The GPF is not the world police. It cannot act outside of its jurisdiction,” the CGID noted.
Moreover, it added that the Guyana Cybercrime Act has no extra-territorial application.
It hastened to add that the Act requires a computer or data storage device to be present and located directly in Guyana in order to establish a breach of law, and for the courts in Guyana to exercise jurisdiction.