From the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development
Nigel Dallamour was recently appointed to the executive committee of Guyana’s ruling People’s Progressive Party.
CNN
—
A leading Guyanese politician has been accused of sexual assault for the second time in less than a year, after he resigned last July on unrelated charges.
Accused economist Sara Aneesah Haq said in an online press conference in the capital Georgetown that former minister Nigel Dharamlour sexually assaulted her in 2020 and 2021. Ms Haq said the first incident occurred during a business meeting when Mr Dharamlool was Senior Minister for the Guyana Region, she said. development.
“I am appalled by the fact that he is still part of that party,” Haq said.
Dharamlor, a Guyanese politician who is considered a power broker in the country, was recently appointed to the executive committee of Guyana’s ruling People’s Progressive Party. He was recently photographed with Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali and Vice President Bharat Jagdeo.
Dharamrol denied the allegations in a statement posted on his Facebook page, saying: “I wish to categorically and most vehemently deny each and every one of the allegations.” He accused Haq of taking part in a “campaign to smear my reputation,” adding: “After I declined her advances and rejected her attempts to establish an intimate relationship, Her attitude has fundamentally changed.”
CNN has reached out to Dharamlool for comment and to the office of Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali.
Mr. Dharamlor resigned from Guyana’s cabinet and parliament last year after a teenage girl accused him of rape in an unrelated incident, which he denies.
Officials said the girl later dropped the charges and no charges were filed, President Ali said in a video statement last July. He stressed at the time that the government had “allowed the system to run.” We are not intervening. From day one,” apparently referring to public criticism of how the girl’s case was handled by authorities.
However, her withdrawal was seen by some as a sign of government corruption, and the public speculated that her family might have been avenged.
In a statement in March, Guyanese women’s rights group Red Thread criticized the authorities for failing the accuser.
“We are extremely concerned that the public nature of this charge, the powerful political position of the suspects, the discontinuance of the matter at this early stage and the speed with which this investigation was concluded, will increase perceptions of impunity. “This inevitably deters other victims of sexual violence from coming forward.”
Haq, who was considered a rising star in Guyana, said he was first assaulted by Dharamlol during a meeting in September 2020 when he was scheduled to take over as regional executive director. She claimed Mr. Dharamlour robbed the then-25-year-old board member in the country’s coastal town of Anna Regina, where the –year-old boy entered her bedroom, removed her clothes and forced her to leave without her consent. forcibly performed oral sex on her.
Haq told reporters on Friday that she is a lesbian and that she had “nothing to offer because this is not what I came here expecting” and that she had repeatedly told Dharamroll to stop. Told.
“I was sexually assaulted against my will by a man who took advantage of my situation and tried to put me in a dangerous situation because of my future ministry contract,” she said. Told.
Ms Haq also claimed that a second incident occurred in the Cummings Lodge area on the outskirts of Georgetown in 2021, during which she said she met Dharamroll to discuss some grievances with the Ministry of Local Government. During the meeting, Haak claims Dharamrol tried to remove her clothes.
Haq told CNN that she did not file a police report in 2020 and 2021 out of fear of police corruption, saying she feared she would be ostracized in public and within her family, and that Dharamroll and her business dealings with the police were ostracized. claimed that there was.
“I knew I was facing something dangerous, and my whole strategy was, if I made a pre-emptive report and it didn’t lead to anything… , it automatically meant my credibility was gone,” she said at a press conference Friday. She finally filed a police report on May 9, she added.
Haq said she also filed a cyberbullying complaint against Dharamrol on May 8. CNN has contacted the Guyana Police Force for comment.
Haq said she decided to make her case public because “we need to give victims the strength to know that they are not alone and that there is no shame in what happened to them.” said.
