Movement For Justice

Fighting To End All Types Of Discrimination and Injustices

57 Upper Robb Street, Bourda,
Georgetown, Guyana
Tel: 225-1540 or 622-8308
June 8, 2010

The Chairman
Ethnic Relations Commission
66 Peter Rose Street, Queenstown
Georgetown, Guyana

Dear Sir

Complaint against the DPP, Shalimar Ali-Hack and the CIOG for
Religious Discrimination against Balwant Persaud and the Guyanese
Public

I am hereby lodging an official complaint with the Ethnic Relations

Commission against the Director of Public Prosecution, Mrs. Shalimar
Ali-Hack for religious discrimination against myself and another complaint
against the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG) for
discriminating against the Guyanese public at large based on religious
beliefs.

Mrs. Shalimar Ali-Hack is a senior member of the CIOG at Thomas Lands,

Georgetown, Guyana. She has discriminated against me on religious and
political grounds, namely because I am a Hindu and with anti-
government views.

Allegations of fraud has been made against me and a Muslim by the name
of Sheik Aleem Samad of 129 Barr Street, Kitty, Georgetown,
Guyana by certain individuals. These allegations cannot be proven against
me because I am innocent and I have proved my innocence with
documentation to the police but the police told me that they cannot do
anything because the DPP has given instructions to them to charge me and
not Aleem Samad.
Attached are contracts and agreements to prove my innocence.

Police officers have confided in me that orders were given “from the top” to
the DPP and the police to charge me for alleged fraud and that Aleem Samad
must not be charged.
I am not concerned with what political instructions were given “from the
top”, as I am more concerned that the DPP and the police should have done
proper investigative work and charge the guilty person and to perform their
duties in accordance with the Constitution of Guyana.

The police just take statements and did not do any investigative work or
check the documentation I provided because the DPP has already made the
decision to charge me and not her fellow Muslim worshipper, hence the
police just went through the motion of taking statements.
Police officers admitted to me that I am innocent but “their hands
are tied”.

Aleem Samad is a member of the CIOG and a worshipper there. He is well

known to the DPP and her husband, Shaik Moen Ul-Hack, the resident scholar
at the CIOG.

It was well documented in the newspapers that Aleem Samad collected

money from these victims and that he threatened them with violence if they
reported him to the police. However, the victims did report him to the police
but he was never charged.
In fact two of Aleem Samad’s victims did not get justice from the DPP and
the police (the DPP is the official advisor to the police in criminal matters)
and they had to take legal action in the High Court personally against Aleem
Samad for the moneys he defrauded them.
Attached are copies of the High Court documents filed against
Aleem Samad.

Now, if I had defrauded anyone, wouldn’t they have sued me in the High
Court? Why the victims didn’t sue me and Aleem Samad jointly and severally
instead of suing Aleem Samad alone?

I am filing this claim of religious discrimination against me because

the DPP, Mrs. Shalimar Ali-Hack has refused to charge her fellow
Muslim and worshipper at the CIOG for fraud committed against
individuals but instituted charges against me, a Hindu who has
proved his innocence with documentation. The DPP was bias due to
her religious beliefs, to help her fellow Muslim brother.
There is a trend or pattern that this DPP, Shalimar Ali-Hack does not
prosecute her fellow Muslim brothers, especially if they are
members of the CIOG. The CIOG has an unwritten code of helping
their members and fellow Muslims in distress, similar to the
Lodges.

In this case one of their members and a staunch Muslim, Sheik Aleem Samad
committed fraud against individuals but was spared the full brunt of the law
because of his association with his fellow Muslim, Shalimar Ali-Hack and his
links to the CIOG.
Attached is the documentation to prove my innocence. It is clear that I did
not defraud anyone and it was Aleem Samad who defrauded these people
based on the attached documentation.

The DPP refused to reply to my lawyer’s letter dated 27th February 2009
although my lawyer made many phone calls to her office. Besides being
spiteful and vindictive, she also displays unprofessionalism in not replying to
an important correspondence from a fellow lawyer and member of the
Guyana Bar Association.
Attached is a copy of my lawyer’s letter.

The DPP, Mrs. Shalimar Ali-Hack has on many occasions failed to prosecute
her fellow Muslim brothers and even when they are brought into court, the
case would be withdrawn or dismissed for frivolous reasons.
Some examples are the Polar beer scam involving Mr.Safeek, the Muslim
priest who sexually abused an underage girl, the recent case of Shafdar Alli
who was accused of embezzlement of government funds and the DPP “found
nothing criminal” although there were evidence of criminality according to
the Minister of Local Government and the Government Auditors.

In the New Building Society fraud case, no Muslims were charged although
evidence points against them for wrong doings. Instead two Hindus and one
Christian were charged for fraud and dismissed from the NBS.
The Teller in this fraud case was a Muslim, the auditors were Muslim, the
General Manager was Muslim, the Chairman was Muslim, the account holder
was Muslim and the Supervisor was a Muslim.
Strange, none of the Muslims were charged only the two Hindus and one
Christian.
To make matters worse, the New Building Society held a meeting at the
CIOG’s head office on Thomas Lands to discuss the fraud against the NBS.
Why hold a meeting at the CIOG? Wasn’t any other venue available in
Guyana?
The DPP was prominent in organizing this meeting according to reliable
sources.

There are too numerous cases similar to these where Muslims associated
with the CIOG are not facing the courts to be mentioned here.

I am also filing another religious discrimination charge against the CIOG

based on their advertisement in the Chronicle newspaper on Thursday June
3rd 2010 inviting ONLY Muslim students to apply for scholarships to attend
the University of Guyana.
Attached is the newspaper advertisement.
Guyana is a multi-cultural and multi-religious country and by placing that
offensive ad in the papers offering scholarships only to Muslims is derogatory
and outright discrimination. It would be understandable that if the
scholarships were for Islamic Studies or religious related studies, but these
scholarships are for various disciplines such as Engineering, Medicine, and
Dentistry etc.
This is a clear case of discriminating against fellow Guyanese of other
religious backgrounds.

Thank you.

Yours truly

………………….
Balwant Persaud
General Secretary