At a press conference today
at the Office of the President, President
Bharrat Jagdeo
stated that the report that retired army
major David Clarke
has been indicted on drug trafficking charges in
the United States has vindicated his earlier
decision not to promote him when he was still a
member of the security forces.
Letter
writer Michael Maxwell Dorian_Massay-fraud
David
Clarke,
his brother and his brother’s girlfriend have
been arrested and indicted of conspiring to
import over five kilograms of cocaine into the
US and to distribute it, according to reports.
He is at present in a New York jail and is set
to testify against Roger Khan, another accused
drug trafficker.
President Bharrat Jagdeo
addressing the media at a press conference at
the Office of the President on March 9, 2009
President Jagdeo,
in response to a question by a reporter, noted
that, in May 2003, he had refused to promote Clarke
after he received information that did not paint
the retired army
major in a good light. Clarke
was the only officer
that was not promoted from the recommended list
of officers.
The President further stated that he later found
out that the Army
had sent Clarke
on an overseas training programme and
immediately instructed that he should be
recalled, as he suspected that the decision to
send Clarke
on the training programme was meant to be some
kind of compensation for not being promoted.
The President noted that final authority for the
approval of promotions rests with him as
Commander-in-Chief and many persons who
disapproved of his actions would probably be
unable to look him in the face now.
David
Clarke
was the officer
in charge of ‘Operation Tourniquet’ which
was a joint operation with the police force to
arrest the violence that followed the jail break
on February 23, 2002. However, it has been
reported in the media that Clarke,
instead of stopping the violence, appeared to
have facilitated the movement of the criminals
in and out of Buxton.
Government
Information Agency (GINA)
