Opposition open to funding Argentine team to probe Berbice teen murders as Government shows disinterest

In a statement today, Opposition Leader Joe Harmon said the Government's credibility is now on the line as it continues to ignore the request to fund the international experts to probe the three murders that occurred back in September.

Opposition open to funding Argentine team to probe Berbice teen murders as Government shows disinterest

As the Government continues to shy away from funding a team of forensic experts from Argentina and Spain to probe the murder of Berbice teens, Isaiah and Joel Henry and Haresh Singh, the Opposition has indicated its willingness to fund the team’s work.

In a statement today, Opposition Leader Joe Harmon said the Government’s credibility is now on the line as it continues to ignore the request to fund the international experts to probe the three murders that occurred back in September.

He said the Opposition is open to funding the team’s work in Guyana but he wants assurances that the Police Force will be supportive of the team’s work and will share its information from the probe so far.

“Even though they are refusing to fund the work of the Argentine technical persons, we are asking that at least when by our own efforts, these persons come to Guyana, that the records held by the Police and the investigations done by the Police, that they be made available to the experts when they get here”, Mr. Harmon said.

Just after the murders, President Irfaan Ali indicated that he was fully supportive of a full a thorough probe, promising that he would leave no stone unturned in the efforts to get to the bottom of the crime.

The Opposition Leader today said the Government now appears to be moving in a different direction.

“Irfaan Ali, your credibility is on the line again here. You said you will leave no stone unturned. Leave no stone unturned and if you don’t want to pay, then we will pay for the people come, but you must ensure that when they get here the Police makes available to them all the information that you have”, the Opposition Leader said.

The Opposition is not the only one disappointed with the Government’s disinterest in funding the Argentine team to assist with the probe.

The Guyana Human Rights Association has expressed its own disappointment at the move by the Government not to move in direction of funding the team’s work, even after a plan was unveiled to split the costs.

In a statement, the GHRA said every effort must be made to resolve the murders since they have the potential “to lie like an explosive device to be activated by those who traffic in racial insecurity when politically convenient.”

Questioned on the issue today, Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn said the Government has over the years develop a relationship with investigative agencies in the US and across CARICOM and it prefers to lean on those agencies to assist with the probe.

The Guyana Police Force appears to have reached a dead-end with its investigations. There are no suspects currently in custody and the Force is seeking the public’s help for information that could lead to an arrest.

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