Declaring that his party did not bribe former Member of Parliament, Charrandass Persaud to vote along with it during the no-confidence motion against the Government, PPP General Secretary and Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, today said if there are concerns about the former MP being bribed, he would support an impartial investigation of the matter.

Persaud ran from Guyana the morning after he voted along with the Opposition against his own Government. Since his departure, accusations and claims of him being bribed have surfaced. He has denied the allegations. However, he has admitted to making plans to purchase US$1 Million worth of raw gold, but claims those plans were being made for a client of his legal firm.

Persaud has also admitted that he met with gold dealers to get information about the shipment of gold to Canada.  Persaud is now residing in Canada and is a citizen of that state.

At his press conference today, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo was questioned about the Charrandass Persaud revelations and the Police probe that is underway.

“The People’s Progressive Party, or Jagdeo, or any Member of Parliament on our side, did not bribe Charrandass to vote that way. That is clear as daylight. There was absolutely no bribery. We are clear. We have conscience”, Mr. Jagdeo said, while adding that “I would call for an impartial investigation”.

He said he does not believe that the Minister of Public Security, who is part of the Government, or the Officers who report to him, should be in charge of that investigation. The Opposition Leader said he would prefer to see someone from outside of Guyana carry out the impartial investigation.

“If you have an impartial investigation and you have that finding, but not from the PPP and I am sure about that, then that’s a different matter”, he said.

He said he would deal with the results of an impartial investigation on its merit and would not want to speculate before such an investigation could take place.

The Government believes that Persaud might have received some financial inducement to vote in line with the Opposition.

Persaud maintains that there was no bribery and there was nothing wrong with his inquires about purchasing US$1M worth of gold and having it exported to Canada, days before the no-confidence vote.

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