By Gordon French
Caribbean Net News Guyana Correspondent
Email: gordon@caribbeannetnews.com

GEORGETOWN, Guyana: Embattled former New York City Police Department Commissioner, Bernard Kerik has withdrawn his services as a security consultant in Guyana to the Office of the President and the Minister of Home Affairs.

Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik. AFP PHOTO

Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo said that Kerik, who is facing misdemeanor charges in New York, has also pulled the plug on his contract in Trinidad and Tobago since he does not want to damage the image of the two countries. Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee said last week that Kerik had apparently postponed plans to work as a security consultant for two Caribbean countries because of the unresolved legal troubles.

Kerik was expected to begin a one-year contract with the Guyana government in February, but in a statement to Trinidadian officials, Kerik said he could not travel while US prosecutors were investigating him.

President Jagdeo announced last year that Kerik would begin working as his security adviser despite criticism over the former New York City official’s history of alleged ethics violations.

In late 2004, President Bush nominated him for Homeland Security Chief, but Kerik withdrew after acknowledging he had not paid all the taxes for a family nanny-housekeeper and that the woman may have been in the country illegally.

Last June, Kerik pleaded guilty to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from a company that was trying to do business with New York City.

Earlier this week, The Associated Press reported that a person close to the investigation in New York said US prosecutors could indict Kerik on multiple felony counts, including tax evasion, conspiracy to eavesdrop and providing false information.

Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon told reporters two weeks ago that the ongoing probe by US federal investigators had no bearing on the contract signed between the government and Kerik, but went further to state events could force a review of the contract.

Federal prosecutors had offered him less than two years in jail in return for a guilty plea, but his lawyers maintained that his innocence was the grounds on which the deal was turned down.