With Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo denying claims by a Chinese businessman and lobbyist that he has accepted bribes to facilitate Chinese business dealings in Guyana, the Leader of the People’s National Congress, Aubrey Norton has issued a call on the Guyana Police Force to launch a full investigation into the allegations.
“I will like to call on the Guyana Police Force to investigate the allegations. It is law enforcement’s responsibility to, when allegations of this nature are made, they should investigate. The question about whether the Government will allow them to investigate should not arise because constitutionally, they are the Guyana Police Force and they are the Law Enforcement Agency…and they should be allowed to investigate”, Norton told a press conference earlier today.
Mr. Norton said he is not surprised by the allegations leveled against Vice President Jagdeo, adding that he is also not surprised by Mr. Jagdeo’s denial of the claims.
“The People’s Progressive Party has had a history of extreme corruption even while Vice President Jagdeo the elected Head of the Government. Now, that he is the defacto Head, one can understand the continuation. It is expected that he will say no to these allegations…but he can take his assets and put it against his earnings and if he does that can establish that the wealth that he has is above board and not in contravention of law then that will help to put these allegations to sleep, but on the face value of it, when you look at the wealth of the PPP elite family and friends, you see underpinning it, corruption”, Norton charged.
The Vice President’s Office on Monday released a video recording of an interview he gave to the international Vice News Agency. It was during that interview that the allegation of bribe-taking was put to the Vice President and he denied it.
The American journalist who conducted the interview, based her questions on allegations that were reportedly made by a Chinese businessman and lobbyist.
Jagdeo profusely denied the allegations although he admitted to knowing the businessman.
In defending himself against the allegations, the Vice President claimed that the former APNU+AFC government had conducted a probe of his bank accounts in and out of Guyana and did not find anything suspicious.
The PNC leader said he does not know of any such probe ever being conducted.
“If he wants to disprove the allegations then he can make these bank accounts that he is talking about and let they be investigated and let him be above board”, The PNC Leader suggested.
The Vice President has accused the international media entity of attempting to embarrass Guyana. The video recording of the interview was released by the Vice President’s Office before any reporting was done by the news agency that conducted the interview.
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