What is the truth about the books stealing issue?

PEDRO ARCHANJO Ph.D: I feel compelled to send the following letter given the discussion about a columnist who stole books in Guyana and the poor excuses that are made for him by people like Balwant Persaud.

On Diwali day, October 17, he used his KN column to instruct Guyanese Indians that, “They must be truthful to themselves.”

Is this man shameless or plain ‘ruckshun’? Please allow me to address him directly about some truths about himself.

Can he for once be truthful and inform all Guyanese if it is true that, for many years with the aid of a Big Coat, he stole books from the following as has been alleged:

A. Third World Books in Toronto (TWB)

B. Student Christian Monitor (SCM)

C. The National Library of Guyana

D. The University of Guyana Library.

If so, where are these stolen books now?

Secondly, is it really true that he made a “killing” reselling most of the books he stole using his Big Coat from Third World Books and the Student Christian Monitor (SCM) bookstore to Third world students, especially African students?

Was that by any chance because he was helping them ‘seek knowledge’ as he told Muniram recently? Or is what I am saying here just political propaganda aimed at destroying his good reputation and unblemished credibility in Guyana, if you know what I mean?

Many of your ex-colleagues say that the student-run Christian bookstore closed down mainly because of Big Coat people like him, and that the African gentleman, Lenny, who ran TWB kept the store open mainly as a service to the African and Caribbean communities. Is this true?

Third, what about the items they say he ‘liberated’, as he used to boast, from department stores? Would he care to tell us the truth about that? Was he ever arrested for shoplifting while doing your ‘liberation’ work? And how many times?

Fourth, before he demands from me to be truthful to myself, can he truthfully tell us all how many books, he less than truthfully obtained as ‘desk copies’ from publishers and how exactly he managed to pull off this piece of knowledge seeking stunt?

If he has forgotten the details, I can get a few of his ex-friends, who, by the way, enjoy telling long stories of his swindling, to remind him of how he went about impersonating professors at the University of Toronto with stolen request forms for free books from publishers, among other things.

Fifth, but not finally, what was the consequence of this when he was caught by the University of Toronto? Please be truthful to yourself here as it has implications for knowledge seeking.

His answers to these questions should fill his column for months; moreover, his column would be more informative than the unadulterated nonsense he dishes out to the reading public daily.

Enough for now BC! Ok, the next time he feels like lecturing Indians, President Jagdeo or Mr. Ramkarran or feel like dishing out advice to anyone, he should reflect on these truths.

As an Indian, he should be truthful to himself: is he really, seriously, more than his BIG COAT, a national embarrassment to Guyana and to indeed to Indians everywhere?

And, does he believe that if one day the whole truth about him comes to light, that he is going to be prosecuted and jailed for his swindling ways?