Page 38
Friday January 01, 2016
Kaieteur News
JULY PPP/C takes control of seven regions July saw the election of Regional Chairmen and Councilors from across the 10 administrative regions of Guyana, and, while there are mostly new faces in the halls of the councils, the heads for Regions Three and Six were returned. The People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) won Regions One, Two, Three, Five, Six, Eight and Nine, at the May 11th elections, with A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) securing Regions Four, Seven and 10. Multiplex Mall owner shot dead in home invasion - $5M reward offered Guyana's business fraternity was left in shock after bandits invaded the home of Regent Multiplex Mall owner Ganesh 'Boyo' Ramlall and shot him dead. Ramlall, 48, was shot seven times, including to the head, a few minutes after he had returned to his Lot C La J a l o u s i e , We s t C o a s t Demerara home just after midnight. Ramlall's relatives and friends responded by posting a $5M reward for information that would lead to the capture and prosecution of his killers. Ramlall was the
Ganesh 'Boyo' Ramlall proprietor of the popular Regent Multiplex Mall on Regent Street as well as other business interests. The attack was a robbery, and was prematurely aborted when an alarm was raised by the businessman's wife and neighbours began responding. Neighbours fired warning shots, but by then Ramlall was already dead and his killers had fled. Police in a press release stated that Ramlall had just returned home and went to use the outside bathroom when he was confronted by four men who shot him about his body and took away his jewellery and a wallet and escaped. Territorial claims…Venez.
recalls ambassador, reviewing diplomatic relations with Guyana – Maduro accuses Granger of making racial statements to Venezuelans – wants E'bo through peace Venezuela recalled its ambassador and threatened to reduce the number of Embassy staffers here as a simmering border claim took a turn for the worse. Hours after CARICOM leaders collectively called on Venezuela to withdraw a May 28 decree which lays claims to not only lands in Essequibo, but also the waters of Guyana and a number of Caribbean territories, President Nicolas Maduro, in an address to his National Assembly ordered his Chancellor, Delcy Rodriguez, to review diplomatic relations with this country. The age-old land claims and now the waters have angered not only Guyana but a number of CARICOM countries who last weekend discussed the issue, lending support to President David Granger who complained of Venezuela's aggression, during his inaugural address to the Heads. According to a report in Venezuela's online news, El Universal, Maduro took his entire executive to the National Assembly for the 4pm address, during which he also called on the Opposition for support
Lennox Roberts
“because it is the destiny of the country that is at stake. This is an issue that departed from the internal electoral confrontation, the electoral political confrontation…” Maduro is facing severe troubles at home with food shortages and economic turmoil and the territorial claims have been seen in some quarters as a mere distraction when his language took on serious intent. Venezuela halts all rice, paddy shipments …270 containers of rice stuck on wharf, over US$5M in limbo As the fallout from the collapse of the Guyana/Venezuela rice deal continues, Venezuela issued a directive for Guyana to cease all paddy and rice shipments to the neighbouring country with immediate effect. This came four months before the PetroCaribe agreement was scheduled to come to an end. With some 270 containers of rice worth over US$5M left stranded on the wharves, and a further surplus crop expected, the move by the oil-producing giant, left Guyana with a more urgent need than ever to find an alternative market to Venezuela, which was responsible for 34 percent of rice exports under the PetroCaribe oil for rice deal. The cancellation was reported to have been first communicated to the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) by Venezuelan rice counterparts through a phone call. The news was subsequently conveyed to the Guyana Rice Millers Association in a meeting. Ezjet boss gets
Fazeel Bacchus 20 years for fraud Florida (Sun Sentinel) When Sonny Ramdeo embezzled at least $21.4 million from his employer, he didn't blow the money on fancy cars and waterfront homes. Instead, federal prosecutors said Ramdeo, 38, envisioned himself as the next Sir Richard Branson with a bandit twist - and used his ill-gotten gains to set up a charter airline company. Ramdeo was sentenced to 20 years in prison after a hearing that went on for more than eight hours in federal court in West Palm Beach. The Sunrise man was payroll manager for the Boca Raton-based Promise Healthcare and Success Healthcare hospital management companies when he set up his own charter air service offering flights from New York City and Toronto to his native Guyana. He was being feted as a gifted entrepreneur and planning to expand the service to Miami when it all came tumbling down in October 2012. After his employers figured out something was amiss and confronted him, he fled and hid out in New York City for two months until federal agents tracked him down. In late 2013, Ramdeo pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering. He admitted he had secretly set up his own corporation, PayServ Tax Inc., and told his employers the company would handle the transfer of the hospital management company's local, state and federal payroll taxes to the government. Ramdeo transferred tens of millions of dollars to his
own bank accounts and used more than $80 million of it to pay the taxes that were due. But he skimmed off what prosecutors very conservatively estimated was more than $21.4 million that he used to set up his airline charter, EZjet. TERROR GANG SMASHED -Ringleader killed, wounded suspect among 10 detained Police have smashed the gang that was behind a recent spate of killings and violent robberies, following a SWAT team-led operation that left the gang's alleged ringleader dead, and another suspect and a police rank wounded. Ten persons in total have been detained. The alleged ringleader, Rolston Morrison called 'Mappy' or 'Sadam', was killed after police cornered the gang in an apartment at First Street, Craig, East Bank Demerara. Police had issued a wanted bulletin for the 29year-old in connection with the murder of Dwayne Kennedy, who was gunned down at the Golden Grove Market on March 14, 2015. Another suspect, i d e n t i f i e d a s Wa r r e n McKenzie, 22, of Brutus Street, Agricola, was shot in the stomach. He was admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation. A constable from the SWAT unit was shot in the thigh. According to a Guyana Police Force release, the ranks, “working with a concerned citizen”, were able to track several persons wanted for the murders of businessman Ganesh Ramlall at La Jalousie, WCD, and Travis Rudder at (Continued on page 39)