Police ranks yesterday swooped down on the Palm Court Restaurant and Bar and seized a number of slot machines, arresting Ryan Rahaman, the son of the managing director and two customers in the process.
The operators of Palm Court, who are the principals of Golden Palm Inc, in which the machines for betting activity were installed, had moved to the High Court late last month seeking an order to bar any closure of the entity called an ‘Entertainment Arcade’.
When the matter came up before Justice B.S. Roy yesterday he granted the police 21 days to file an affidavit in answer to the issues raised by the operators of the business premises. The matter was adjourned to October 15.
Yesterday a large party of ranks, armed with a search warrant, visited the premises at about 2:00 p.m. and removed the 22 machines, popularly called one-armed bandits. The ranks found two customers in the entertainment arcade and they along with the Ryan Rahaman, were arrested and taken to the Brickdam Police Station where they were being held up to late last evening.
Yesterday’s action by the police prompted Managing Director Jad Rahaman to shut Palm Court Restaurant & Bar which he said will be closed until further notice.
“I am shutting Palm Court down. I am shutting Palm Court down. You know I am rather upset over this whole thing,” a visibly annoyed Rahaman told reporters yesterday. The closure will cause some 70 employees to be out of work.
Yesterday when Stabroek News visited the Main Street business place there was a number of police men in plain clothes on the premises, some of whom were members of the Target Special Squad (TSS). Some ranks stood around while others were busy loading the machines onto a white truck parked on the road.
Rahaman and his employees were standing around with anxious expressions on their faces as they watched the officers removing the equipment. One of three persons arrested could be heard loudly proclaiming that he wanted to visit the washroom but none of the officers granted him his request. Minutes after the operation began one of Rahaman’s two lawyers, Stephen Fraser, arrived and he immediately approached, Deputy Superintendent Persaud, who said he was head of the operation. Frazer asked to see the authority for the activity.
Persaud replied that the search warrant was granted under the Prevention of Gambling Act Cap 9:02.
Fraser said the act had several provisions and asked for the provision under which the warrant was granted but Persaud could not say and only stated that the warrant was to remove any illegal equipment found on the premises. He told Fraser that the questions he was asking were for a “higher forum.” Fraser contended that unless Persaud could show him the provision then the activity was unlawful. “I cannot show you the provision, but I have the authority to remove any illegal equipment,” Persaud replied. He said he understood that Fraser had a right to defend his client but he, Persaud, also had a right to carry out his duties.
Soon after Rahaman’s other lawyer, Nigel Hughes, arrived and also spoke to Persaud but both men left hurriedly refusing to comment to the media on the issue. Fraser did say there were courses of action, which they would be taking.
Rahaman yesterday said the total cost of the new operation, which started on August 23, was $15 million.
He had moved to the court on August 30 in anticipation of a confrontation with the government over the establishment of the entertainment arcade.
“We are not mad people to do something like what we are doing if we didn’t know we had legal grounds to stand on. The lawyers have been working on this project for six to eight months. I pay my lawyers very well,” the businessman said yesterday.
Rahaman believes there is section in the law, under the Tax Act Chapter 80:01, that actually provides for him to operate his slot machines.
Meanwhile Rahaman observed: “You know you want to talk about morals, morality and so on and you open the daily papers and you see business places advertising for women to do nude dancing, striptease and lap top dancing and those sort of things. I mean what is more immoral than something like that for the people of this country? This is entertainment [referring to his arcade], this is something totally different.”
He further argued that to allow nude dancing and not his mini casino was nothing but “double standards,” which he said was the issue that was “upsetting” a lot of the business persons, “and all they are doing is chasing good people out of this place. It is time to pack up and go, to hell with it.
“I have done everything possible in my business career to survive in this country, including White Water Adventure Tours which is shut down as we speak because there are no visitors arriving in this country because of the crime situation.” Rahaman asked: “Who comes to this God forsaken place now?”
He said White Water had been officially closed since last Monday.
He said the entertainment arcade was to keep Palm Court going because business has not been doing well. “So far we have not even had cause to retrench one person. We don’t have the heart to retrench any of our staff or send them home because business is doing bad. And here it is that we are trying to do something so that we can keep people employed... and without that sort of income we might as well close our doors.”
Rahaman argued that the activities in Golden Palm are no different to lotto and the betting shops with their horse racing. He said those persons who bet on horses are those who can ill afford to bet. “Here it is you have people with some sort of disposal income, come here, support Palm Court with food and beverages and there is other additional entertainment that they can enjoy.”
Further, Rahaman said that the arcade was something customers had been asking for, for a long time. In his bid to satisfy their requests he had checked all the legal proceedings and did what seemed right. He mentioned that Palm Court had written to the Ministry of Finance over a year ago for permission to open such an entity and, “they never had the courtesy to reply, so we went ahead and found our legal position and ... did what we had to do.”
When the issue was brought to light the Ministry of Finance in a release had stated that it was aware of the installation of the gaming machines with the aim of attracting betting activity. It had not authorised any such activity and any operation of that nature should be deemed illegal.
In his affidavit to support his request for an order, Rahaman had stated that on May 2, 2002 he had written to Secretary of the Treasury, Neemal Rekha, seeking approval for a licence provided for by the Tax Act, Chapter 80:01. He also swore that another letter was sent in support of Golden Palm’s application outlining its earlier proposal for a licence to operate the arcade, and no response was again received.
Rahaman yesterday said all of his machines entered the country legally through customs and he pointed out that if the authority did not want such activity in the country they should have taken the machines off the customs tariff.
He added that no one asked him any questions when he brought the machines into the country.
He said no official from the government or anywhere else had approached him informing him that the activity was illegal or called him in for discussions.
Last month Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Manzoor Nadir said he had asked Commissioner of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), Edgar Heyligar, to investigate how the gaming machines had entered the country. Nadir said no permission had been granted to Palm Court to operate such an enterprise and therefore the popular nightspot was in contravention of current gaming laws.