Not ruling out special protection for the cop at the centre of corruption allegations against members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF), President Irfaan Ali yesterday said that he has to first assess the case, but that the allocating of resources to ensure effective whistleblower’s legislation is a key matter for his administration.
“I wouldn’t say I’m against it [the protection sought by Dion Bascom], because I believe I have to see what is the content of the letter (from Bascom’s lawyer), what is the nature of what is really asked for. But as I said, this system or this country that I’m governing, must provide an even platform for everyone. It must provide a socially just platform for everyone. And in that context, I’ll make my decision,” Ali said yesterday on the sidelines of the European Union/Guyana Chamber of Commerce launch.
Police Sergeant Dion Bascom last week went public following his arrest in connection with a drug bust, in what he described as mistreatment that he and other ranks have faced while serving the GPF.
Bascom was among five persons who were arrested on Monday, August 8, after a search by the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) unearthed parcels of cocaine at a Norton Street, Georgetown premises.
After his release, he took to social media with the damning allegations regarding the stalled Ricardo ‘Paper Short’ Fagundes murder probe, saying he believed his life was under threat and that his arrest was part of the conspiracy to initiate his killing and that there was a cover-up by police of the slaying.
Fagundes, who was a close friend of convicted drug trafficker Roger Khan, was riddled with bullets by two men outside of the Palm Court on the evening of Sunday, March 21, last year.
At the time of the attack, he was approaching a parked vehicle owned by Khan.
An autopsy later confirmed that Fagundes was shot some 20 times about his body. Khan would later say he was the intended target of the attack.
The police recovered 30 spent shells at the scene. Sixteen were from an AK-47 rifle, while the other fourteen were from a 9mm gun.
The case remains unsolved and Bascom has said that there has been a deliberate intention to stall the investigations by some members of the police force.
While he was sent a lawyer’s letter by the law firm representing those named in his allegations, Bascom stood his ground and his lawyer, Nigel Hughes, on Monday wrote President Ali laying out their case and seeking his intervention in the matter. He informed the President that Bascom is prepared to testify under oath and he fears that his client’s life is in grave danger.
Bascom’s seeking of protection raised the matter as to why the mechanisms under the Protected Disclosures Act were not activated even though it was passed more than four years ago in 2018.
Ali pointed out that like the Protected Disclosures Act 2018, this country has many laws that lay dormant after passage due to a lack of resources. “And not only for witness protection, you have a lot of regulations and laws in Guyana that are there but the institutions are not built up to support the implementation. So definitely those are things that we will work on and will be part of the whole strategy moving forward.”
“My focus is on improving the institutional capability and capacity for law enforcement and crime fighting. This does not only have to do with fighting crime. It also has to deal with internal controls and systems and ensuring that the broad mechanism to support crime fighting: ensuring there is transparency, accountability and ensuring that the justice system works effectively and efficiently. And that is the type of investment we’re doing, you know, we are working with the British on the Security Reform initiative. We’ve already started some discussions, though not in a detailed way and we’re working with the US as a partner also, to look at some other areas in which we can reform. We’re now working on national technological infrastructure planning, to support crime fighting and security and all of these things. So definitely the witness protection and ensuring that we have a system that support those features,” he added.
As it pertained specifically to the case involving Bascom who has leveled allegations of a cover-up and corruption against members of the police force, and whose lawyer, Nigel Hughes has written to Ali seeking his intervention for Bascom’s protection. Ali said he has not yet read the correspondence.
But he did say that he is aware that a letter was dispatched, and reminded that he has said before that the case must be handled professionally.
“Now in in this particular case, as you have noticed, I’ve made it very clear that everything must be done professionally. I’ve got to be honest, I have not seen the letter yet. I’m not saying a letter was not sent. I have loads of correspondences. I have not seen it as yet. I have not addressed my mind to the letter as yet because I have not seen the content of the letter…”
The president said that he is being updated by police and was told that they had sought international help for an aspect of the case.
“Now, I think the last update I had from the police is that they would like, I think, to be engaging the media. That’s what was told to me… because they have all information that they want to present out there. So the police has been working with international partners on this case also. I can’t get into the details. That is for the police [to do], but I know they have been working and seeking help from international partners for a specific aspect of this case.”
