A New York Police Department (NYPD) report has confirmed vehement denial by Brooklyn-based Guyanese political activist Rickford Burke that he 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 Caribbean Life on Tuesday, states that about 10:00 a.m. on Dec. 16, 2023, an unknown “Black male, approx. 6ft 2 in, approx. 200 lbs. (and) unk (unknown) white male wearing eye glasses, curly hair, attempted to hand him (Burke) documents paperwork.
“He refused to take them and continued to walk away,” the report adds. “CV (complainant Burke) also states unk white male which (with) what appeared to be the handle of a black rusted firearm.”
But, in a statement on Dec. 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 in relation to 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 offence, and any such report filed by Burke will result in criminal charges and prosecution,” the statement added. “The GPF maintains that there was no illegality in connection with or in relation to 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 continued.
But Burke – a former advisor to the late Guyana President Desmond Hoyte and president of the Brooklyn-based Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) – through a spokesman, Richard Millington, an attorney, who serves as CGID’s director of communications, told Caribbean Life on Tuesday that the NYPD report “proves to the Caribbean region what CGID has been saying for years.
“The Guyana Police Force is led by dishonest people, and nothing they said must be believed,” Millington said. “They are devious.
“They are political hacks who are doing the dirty work of Bharrat Jagdeo (Guyana Vice President),” he alleged. “The region should now appreciate what Guyanese face. Jagdeo and the Guyana Police leadership are tyrants, who are enemies of the people.
“However, we in CGID are not afraid to tyrants,” Millington added. “We will take those liars head on and expose them.”
The Guyana Police said in a statement that Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Rodwell Sarrabo, on Dec. 16, met with Mark Wesserman, a process server, based in the US, and that they served both defendant summons on Burke at his home address on Maple Street in Brooklyn.
The Guyana Police 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.”
But Burke, through Millington, flatly denied the allegation.
“The Guyana Police Force is engaged in egregious lies, serious illegal conduct and fraudulent activities,” Millington told Caribbean Life. “Mr. Burke was never served with a document and did not sign for or accept a document. The gunmen left pieces of paper of Mr. Burke’s steps, which were retrieved and taken as evidence by the NYPD
“The Guyana Police Force and Courts of Guyana have no jurisdiction to regulate and police speech of Guyanese in America or to serve criminal charges on anyone in the US,” he added.
The Guyana Police said that Burke is wanted in Guyana on several offences, 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 statement 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”.
Millington said Burke, who was born in Guyana and has been living in the US since 1992, “remains devoted to ending political corruption and racism in Guyana,” and that “from his Brooklyn studios, Mr. Burke publishes a twice-weekly news and opinion talk show on Facebook and YouTube titled, ‘Conversation with Rickford Burke,’ protesting what he believes to be corruption inside the current PPP Government of Guyana and racist policies and practices.”
“The PPP Government is not happy,” said the lawyer, stating that on Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023, at about 10:55 a.m., as Burke was departing his residence for church, accompanied by a colleague, “Sarabos and Wasserman, both armed with pistols, rushed into Mr. Burke’s fenced yard, and straight up the stairs to the front door, where they obstructed his departure from the residence. Sarabo was videotaping while brandishing a firearm.
“Wasserman shouted, ‘are you Rickford Burke?’ and attempted to shove unidentified papers in his face,” Millington added. “Mr. Burke requested that they leave his property, ignored Wasserman, locked the doors to his home, descended the stairs, exited his yard, and left for church in a waiting vehicle.
“The two Guyana agents remained in the yard, and were later observed rifling through documents and correspondence in Mr. Burke’s mailbox,” he continued, stating that “tampering with mail is a federal crime in the United States.”
Millington said the matter was reported to the US Postal Police, and that Burke also contacted the NYPD.
The CGID’s communications director said the NYPD “retrieved a document the Guyana agents left” on Burke’s stairs, and that “officers from the NYPD determined that the men were agents of the PPP Government of Guyana.”
Millington said “the NYPD immediately called in the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), and that “the FBI presently is investigating whether the Government of Guyana has engaged in a transnational effort to repress speech using criminal charges.”
He said the NYPD also has “engaged” the US Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF).
The Guyana Police said that, on Sept. 29, 2022, it had issued a “Wanted Bulletin for Rickford Burke in relation to the offence of Conspiracy to Commit a Felony, Contrary to Section 33 of the Criminal Law (Offences) Act…with regards to the publication of defamatory libel in order to extort money from Afras Mohammed”.
The Guyana Police statement also said that, on Aug. 18, 2023, two charges were filed at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court in Guyana against Burke in relation to the offences. It said Burke did not show up in court.
“As such, the magistrate ordered that the ‘defendant summons’ be prepared and served on Rickford Burke to attend the Vigilance Magistrate’s court on the 28th day of March 2024,” the Guyana Police statement said.
“As such, pursuant to the order of the Court, two defendant summons were subsequently prepared and, on the 13th day of December, 2023, an Officer of the Guyana Police Force, ASP Rodwell Sarabo, left Guyana and travelled to the United States of America with both defendant summons in his possession,” the statement added.
Millington confirmed to Caribbean Life on Tuesday that Burke has been interviewed by “US federal agents who are investigating the incident” on Burke’s Brooklyn premises.
