Action will be taken against corrupt police, says Lewis - if evidence provided Stabroek News March 27, 2000 Commissioner of Police Laurie Lewis has given the assurance that appropriate action would be taken if the allegations made against two unnamed local policemen by a US Justice Department lawyer in Chicago were supported by hard evidence. The allegations of the involvement of the two police officers was made in testimony by US Justice Department lawyer, Richard Pilger, when he testified against the US embassy official, Thomas Carroll, who is facing charges of visa fraud, illegal production of visas and bribery. The Commissioner told Stabroek News yesterday when asked about the allegation, that the lawyer had a responsibility if he was serious about fighting crime to submit the particulars here to the relevant authorities as quickly as possible. "I can assure you that as long as the allegations are supported by hard evidence that appropriate action will be taken against the two policemen," he said. Pilger told the Court when he testified against Carroll, according to a March 23, Chicago Tribune report, that Carroll had personally participated in violence against Guyanese nationals who threatened to expose the fraud scheme and had at least two corrupt Guyanese policemen assisting him. Pilger's testimony was made in response to Carroll's effort to obtain bail. This was denied him as the judge, Morton Denlow, said that he was most concerned about the alleged threats against witnesses. In an effort to obtain his release on bail, his parents and two other siblings had proposed putting up over US$550,000 in assets. Pilger also told the Court that one person who had sparked Carroll's anger had his house raided by four people and his property destroyed and had been forced to flee. Other testimony adduced by the Justice Department lawyers to prevent Carroll from being released on bail consisted of tape-recorded conversations showing Carroll threatening violence against a co-worker at the US embassy in Guyana if the alleged fraud scheme was exposed. The co-worker was cooperating with authorities and secretly recording his conversations with Carroll, who is accused of selling US visas in his post at the US embassy for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Carroll was arrested last week while visiting his parents in Palos Hills. "As nice a guy I am... if I get the facts and that guy is playing some game with me, I have every right to...," Carroll was quoted as saying on February 23. "To strike back?" asked the cooperating witness. "To strike him more severely and his family and everybody that's important to him," Carroll said. In another conversation that same day, Carroll was heard on the tape saying, "I'm not talking about getting anyone killed." "Uh huh, no, I wouldn't want that," the cooperating witness said. "No, you wouldn't want that because, as a Christian like I am, I've always thought that you can handle things, any kind of situation without having anybody killed," Carroll said. "Now, somebody might be threatened. Somebody might get beat, beat up pretty bad." Halim Khan who was arrested on the same day as Carroll as he was about to board a plane to Guyana from Miami, has also been denied bail. He has also agreed to be transferred to Chicago where he will face the same charges as Carroll. Authorities have seized about $1.8 million in cash and gold bars from safe-deposit boxes and other investment accounts of Carroll's. They said that based on tape-recorded comments by Carroll, they believe an equal amount could still be stashed away. Carroll and Khan were arrested before they could put into effect a plan to sell 250 visas. Carroll was to pay his successor in the post of head of the Non-Immigrant Visas section US$4000 for each visa he issued. As late as February, Carroll is said to have paid to this official US$40,000 for visas he had issued at his request.