The Guyana Police Force (GPF) has been riddled with scandals in recent months. From the botched Police Association Elections, the firing of its Chaplin over a prayer it found unacceptable, alleged interference in the last Police Service Commission, and $300 million missing funds among the plethora of issues pummeling its once prestigious image, it could hardly afford another assault on its professionalism.
Enter the Dion Bascom bombshell allegations. Former Assistant Commissioner of Police Paul Slowe in a letter published in the daily newspapers says the statements by “a serving member of the Guyana Police Force” Sergeant Bascom are “serious allegations”.
On August 11, 2022, Sergent Bascom in a Facebook ‘live’ tirade leveled the “serious allegations” against businessman Azruddin Mohamed, an agent of the Mohameds family business Mark Richmond, and Guyana Police Force’s Deputy Head of the Guyana Police Force’s Major Crimes Unit, Superintendent Mitchell Caesar, and complained also of his treatment after the arrest last week which precipitated the shocking revelations.
Bascom alleged that they were involved in the interference and cover-up of circumstances in the murder of popular gold dealer and biker Ricardo Fagundes, a.k.a ‘Paper Shorts’. Fagundes was gunned down outside Palm Court, in March 2021, where he had earlier been a patron with colleague convict Roger Khan.
It has been reported that the GPF’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) is investigating Bascom’s allegations. Slowe said, “I am of the view that the investigation into the damning allegations made by the Sergeant should not be investigated by any member or unit of the Guyana Police Force.”
Slowe stated in his missive, “It is my view that the Guyana Police Force, as currently staffed, lacks the credibility to conduct a conscientious investigation into these serious allegations against a senior member of the Force and the businessman named in the allegation. The statement by the administration of the Guyana Police Force that the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) has been instructed to commence an investigation is laughable.”
“The statement is ambiguous; it does not state what is to be investigated. The Office of Professional Responsibility lacks the personnel and credibility to conduct an investigation of this nature. Of note is that some of the members of the Force against whom the allegations are leveled are far senior in rank to the most senior rank at the Office of Professional Responsibility,” the retired policeman pointed out.
“I am still hopeful that given the very serious nature of this recent allegation and its potential to further damage the ailing image of the Guyana Police Force, and by extension Guyana, they will see the need to urgently seek overseas assistance to get to the bottom of these nocuous allegations. This matter should be seen in the wider national security context,” Slow stated in his letter.
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