NEW YORK, CMC – A New York Police Department (NYPD) report has confirmed that United States-based Guyanese political activist Rickford Burke was not served last month with a Guyana police-issued court summons on charges related to extortion, sedition, and inciting public terror.
A copy of the NYPD report, made available to the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) on Tuesday, states that at about 10:00 am (local time) on December 16, 2023, an unknown “Black male, approx. 6ft 2 in, approx. 200 lbs. (and) unk (unknown) white male wearing eyeglasses and curly hair attempted to hand him (Burke) documents and paperwork.
“He refused to take them and continued to walk away. CV (complainant Burke) also states unk white male who (with) what appeared to be the handle of a black rusted firearm,” the report added.
However, in a statement on December 23, 2023, captioned “Rickford Burke lied,” the Guyana Police Force (GPF) said that it “continues to communicate with the high command of the New York Police Department about Wanted Man, Rickford Burke.
“Recent communication with the NYPD confirms that Burke made no report to the NYPD against a GPF Officer and the process server, who served him certain legal documents at his premises in New York, although he continues to allege publicly that he made such reports to the NYPD,” the statement said.
“The GPF wishes to remind the public that filing a false report to law enforcement officials, whether local or overseas, constitutes a serious criminal offense, and any such report filed by Burke will result in criminal charges and prosecution,” the statement added.
The GPF maintains “no illegality in connection with or about the service of legal documents upon Rickford Burke. In the circumstances, his rantings constitute a tissue of lies and libel accentuated by malice and mischief.
“In this context, therefore, the GPF will continue to act within the confines of the law and ensure that the appropriate legal action is taken against Burke for these falsehoods and malicious attacks perpetrated against its ranks,” the statement added.
But Burke, a former advisor to the late Guyana President Desmond Hoyte and president of the Brooklyn-based Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID), had through a spokesman, attorney Richard Millington, told CMC on Tuesday that the NYPD report “proves to the Caribbean region what CGID has been saying for years.
“Dishonest people lead the Guyana Police Force, and nothing they say must be believed. They are devious,” said Millington, who also serves as CGID’s communications director.
He accused the GPF of being “political hacks” doing the work of senior members of the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government.” he said, adding, “We in CGID are not afraid of tyrants. We will take those liars head-on and expose them.”
On December 16, the GPF said that Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Rodwell Sarrabo met with Mark Wasserman, a process server based in the US, and that they served both defendants summons on Burke at his home address on Maple Street in Brooklyn.
It said both defendant summons for Burke to appear in court in Guyana in March 2024 were “read to Rickford Burke, and he said he understood.”
GPF said Burke is wanted in Guyana on several offenses, including “the excitement of hostility or ill-will on the grounds of race, under the Racial Hostility Act, sedition under the Cyber Crime Act, use of a computer system to coerce and intimidate a person, under the Cyber Crime Act, as well as seditious libel contrary to common law.”
Additionally, the Guyana police said that Burke is wanted on “seditious libel under the peace under the Summary Jurisdiction Offences Act and inciting public terror under the Criminal Law Offences Act.”
But Burke has consistently denied the allegations.
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