He'll be a model prisoner. That's if things go right - or wrong. 

Edul "Ed" Ahmad already has the perfectly coiffed hair as if it was sculpted at a pricey Madison Avenue salon; but at his upcoming trial for mortgage fraud, the Guyanese business tycoon will also have a personal valet - courtesy of the US Bureau of Prisons. 

Now, how cool could that be? 

In the meantime, Ed Ahmad will be busy with fashion designers to help him with the selection of coordinated business outfits to meet with the demands of a scathing, grueling trial. The court attire quagmire certainly will ask the perennial questions bedeviling men's fashion, such as: Paisley or pinstripes? Brogues or semi brogues? A half Windsor or four-in-hand?

But it also suggests that Guyanese New Yorkers can look forward to the most stylish court appearances from a man whose keen sense of fashion combines with his business acumen of wheeling and dealing - qualities that go hand in hand in the game of opulence and power. 

Until he is proven guilty, Ed's foray into the American justice system will be, in part, to influence the audience's perception of him. And, to bring sexy back. If panegyrics are welcomed as evidence then Cliff Joseph's spectacular lyrical, testimonial accompaniments should really make waves in the court room.   

The West Indian's full page of glory on July 23, 2011, headlining Ed Ahmad in part as a "philanthropist" is a double deal; the blandishments may or may not work for the defense. But it has brought disrepute to the newspaper that declined to carry the author's name in the byline. 

But that's almost besides the point. 

When the FBI hauled him out of a Delta flight bound to Guyana a week ago, it was just the beginning of the end for many things "Richmond Hill;" and the promulgation of newer revelations of Guyanese mafia politics - and beyond. 

Yes it is. It is the beginning of the end of the rags-to-riches era that has characterized Richmond Hill realtors and brokers who have so shamelessly depredated their own ethnic nationality. It is also the fresh start of a new way at looking at accountability and holding people responsible on the basis of their professionalism, and not the color of their skin. 

The FBI has been sweeping this town the way massala and curry pervade the air on Liberty Avenue. One after one, the well dressed hoodlums keep falling. In a word: it's pay back time. And in the advertising parlance of lending predators, the catchphrase for prison is: Location! Location! Location! 

With a vision of 20/20 and the reality of hard justice, Ed Ahmad is looking at the advantages of a maximum of 20 years in a gated community somewhere upstate New York with 24/7 guards. That's if he's convicted. Some of his colleagues and competitors await to greet him. 

Memory allows to mention a few of the notables like Ravi Persaud, Cheddi Gobberdhan, David Ramnauth, Peggy Persaud, Anand Bharat, Shawn D. Chand, Trevor Rupnarain, Mangal Singh, et al. These are just the few who have embodied charisma and intelligence deployed in the service of evil; have had their moments with the FBI after they have callously outwitted poor, hard working people and set them up for financial disaster in the mortgage schemes they built. Not funny at all.

Ed Ahmad's liaison with FBI investigators, and the justice system not only adds to the list of shady deals that went down in Richmond Hill, but, alarmingly, to the nasty, crooked politics of the PPP in Guyana. Well, not exactly. It's far too early to make solid pronouncements, though there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical. 

Those who are always fetish about the PPP's politics but were burnt by Ed Ahmad's suspect ways must now determine where they stand on the spectrum of Guyana's development. Why so? Because the PPP's ruling cabal comes here panhandling for cash and support for their wretched politics back in Guyana. 

With the FBI on Ed Ahmad's case, the story looks really bad for the PPP and Freedom House; the PPP coterie now looks like a Mafia family with Ed as it's newest talent into the clan. Like Phantom Squad boss Roger Khan. Like the many who have been sanctified by the PPP to con the Guyanese tax payers with scam after scam after scam. 

Ed did not have to fill an application form, nor join a line. It's just how the Mob works. The PPP is always recruiting. 

PPP's presidential prima donna, Donald Ramotar was quick to point out that Ed Ahamd is not a financier of the PPP; never was, he asserted. Ya think? Well, it's not working. His disclaimer was just as plausible and effective as Vishnu Bisram and his recent apocryphal NACTA poll figures which showed the PPP in the lead. 

It settled nothing. It's like finding a naked man in your bedroom and your wife is telling you it's not what it looks like. What is revealing though in this bizarre historical coincidence is that everyone is now convinced more and more about who is getting fat under the Jagdeo regime rather than who was starving under Forbes Burnham's PNC rule. 

Everyday, a new chapter in this depressing sports of political corruption and nepotism unfolds. And the dapper Ed Ahmad is somehow inserted into the plot like a player in a spy novel. PPP die-hards are in a grumpy mood, and with good reason. This is not a nice scandal in an election year.

To make matters worse, bloggers are in a frenzy conjuring images of mob relations and the clandestine interface between big money and fascist politics. The readings, and sometimes cheesy anecdotes, offer a very good glimpse of how most people think of the unscrupulous regime of the PPP, and its partnership with shadowy characters. 

The bloggers' narratives also provide inside, often embarrassed, discomfiting details into Ed Ahmad's construction of unbridled fortune in a village of working class East Indian immigrants - many of them uneducated, undocumented and naïveté and vulnerable to manipulation.

Of course, these stories are simply allegations and distillations of how vibrant Ed's range touches grassroots people at the customer service level.

No doubt, the Ed Ahmad scandal has also thrown the Jagdeo Administration and Freedom House into the defensive. Case in point? For the benighted PPP novice and squalor propagandist and protagonist of the Burnham's food shortage era, the PPP's mouthpiece Mirror has permitted Ed Ahmad's Wholesale Hardware Store on it's premises.

What were they thinking? Even the Mexican drug cartels do not conceptualize such dottishness in their dirty drug operations that induct government officials. Yet, it is another low for the PPP; so sacrilegious, so dumb, even by communist standards.

How about that for an encore? Even PPP's brown-noser and Ed Ahmad's most sycophantic licker, radio disc jockey Farook Juman is stunted and speechless.

Until Ed was busted, most folks were unaware of his stealthy, dubious, murky and low keyed connections with the ruling cabal in Guyana. As one of the wealthiest men in the Guyanese community, Ed Ahmad has always been the subject of persistent suspicions about his business deals.

What makes Ed Ahmad different than his predecessors is that he has built a deluge of political connections. And he has driven his companies (a slue of names) like an assault vehicle. He has an unusual galaxy of aides and advisers spread from the political, business and legal spectrum who are always at hand to render services. He has been steadied by big connections and deep business friendships.

Which brings us to Queens Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks and state Senator John Sampson who are not only wining and dining buddies but who have had their share of conflict of interests running with Ed and state investigators. Their ties with Ed Ahmad have come more than once into question and scrutiny, particularly in the field of business transactions, legal services and ethics.

But that's another long story.

So where does this take Ed Ahmad? Into the boondocks.   But he is already there. Since 2008 when the economy collapsed. How come? In legal papers filed back then, and in the embarrassment of riches, Ed Ahmad cried poverty. At that time he was living in a mansion, owned a fleet of cars which included a Lamborghini, a Mercedes and a succession of Range Rovers.

So that is poverty according to the lifestyles of the rich and famous. No wonder Ed Ahmad didn't make the Forbes' list. It is the kind of poverty that most folks contemplate in their fantasy world of grandeur.  

But it is the reality, if one is to go by what the Feds are alleging, constructed by sheer trickery and greed. This is where the prosecution is heading. Like Lindsay Lohan who had the honor of wearing ankle bracelet, Ed will have to find solace in the limited freedom he enjoys until his trial concludes.

Meanwhile, Donald Ramotar, in full panic mode, and struggling to contain the firestorm of Ed's association with the party, delivered the ultimate paradoxical death sentence. Here's what he said, "....if you live in a country and you break the law in the country, you must face the consequences of the law."

Sounds familiar right? Well, that's how the PPP let go of Roger Khan after he was captured and taken away to the United States. Donald Ramotar's remarks signal the beginning of how the PPP distances itself from Ed Ahmad in order to save face to the international audience. It's deja vu all over again.

It's a pity Ed Ahmad did not live in Guyana.