As he awaits a response from President Irfaan Ali on his request for witness protection, Police Sergeant Dion Bascom has been asked by the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to report “immediately” for duty.
“We do have an obligation of self-preservation to ourselves [so] that if the President does not act by a particular time, we need to protect Mr. Bascom’s life. I don’t wish to be attending a funeral, giving a tribute to Mr. Bascom about how brave he was to stand up to corruption in the Guyana Police Force….We have an opportunity now,” attorney Nigel Hughes yesterday told reporters.
Hughes, who is representing Bascom, held a press conference at his Hadfield Street, George-town office during which he addressed the safety of his client, who is continuing to receive threats.
While he hopes that the President will grant the request for Bascom to be protected, Hughes said he will also be exploring other avenues. “We have another course of action we will take if it appears to us that we are unlikely to solicit the assistance where a citizen is saying to the President my life is in danger,” he said.
Hughes has written to Ali requesting protection for him under the Protected Disclosures Act.
Ali has since 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,” he said
Ali, currently on a state visit to Trinidad and Tobago, had not responded to Hughes’ request as of yesterday.
Bascom last week went public following his arrest in connection with a drug bust, decrying what he described as mistreatment that he and other ranks have faced while serving the Guyana Police Force.
During a live Facebook video, which has since been removed, Bascom made 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. Although threatened with lawsuits by businessman Azruddin Mohamed, his bodyguard Mark Richmond and the Deputy Head of the Major Crimes Unit Mitchell Caesar if he did not recant his claims, Bascom has stood by them.
The GPF’s Office of Professional Responsibly (OPR) had launched an investigation into Bascom’s allegations and its findings were forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for legal advice.
The GPF broke its silence on the allegations on Tuesday night when Commissioner of Police (ag) Clifton Hicken issued a statement to deride the Bascom claims and to paint him as compromised.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Hicken had said that Bascom’s status as a member of the force will be determined based on legal advice.
Hughes yesterday told the media that he has also written to Hicken indicating that the Protected Disclosure Act prohibited the GPF from taking any disciplinary proceedings against Bascom. “The act is a classic whistleblowers protection piece of legislation,” he said.
The Act states that a person who makes a protected disclosure shall not be liable to criminal or disciplinary proceedings.
Safety and security
Bascom is currently on sick leave.
However, he explained that a rank from the Enmore Police Station yesterday visited his home with a message that he report for duty “immediately”.
In the letter to Hicken, Hughes yesterday said that he also asked about the arrangements being put in place for the safety and security of Bascom as they await a response from the President.
He said they had not yet received any response. “I have not had the courtesy of a response from the Commissioner of Police,” Hughes said.
Bascom is currently stationed in Essequibo. Since he made the allegations, he has received a number of threats.
He told the press conference yesterday that it appears as though he is being watched. He mentioned that a man was seen lingering around his home. “What I think happen there is something we would normally do. If you watching a place and you ain’t want pass with a car for nobody recognise you or recognise the car, you would get an old bicycle and put it in the trunk and you would use the bicycle and ride fah check out the house,” he said.
“…It could be a police or it could be somebody that wanted to find where I living to harm me,” he added.
While Hicken and Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum have said that Bascom’s allegations are “malicious” and “untrue”, he is maintaining his claims. He said he has evidence to support them but would not provide any further details.
“We got to appreciate that Mr. Bascom life is in great danger. If we start to disclose the nature of the information and evidence that he is in possession of, that may increase the incentive and accelerate the reason for reducing his life expectancy,” Hughes explained.
‘Startling revelation’
Among the allegations which were made by Bascom in his live video which went viral last Thursday was that of corruption involving senior members of the force and a cover-up in the murder investigation of gold dealer Fagundes.
Fagundes, who was a close friend of convicted drug trafficker Roger Khan, was riddled with bullets by two men outside Palm Court on the evening of Sunday, March 21, last year.
To date, the murder remains unsolved. Bascom alleges that a police officer received $30 million as bribe to bury the matter.
Bascom had also said that he was one of the officers who arrived at the scene following the shooting of Fagundes.
According to Bascom, he and other officers were able to track the phone used by the prime suspect and the calls he made before and after the shooting. However, during Wednesday’s press conference, Blanhum had said the force did not have any equipment which can carry out the functions cited by Bascom.
Hughes described Blanhum claim about the device as a “startling” revelation. He said during the crime wave that began in 2002, specialised equipment was bought into the country and would allow the force to “triangulate” and “pinpoint” the specific location of a person. “Mr Blanhum perhaps may not have been in the force or not sufficiently high up in the force to recall when Commissioner Henry Greene himself confirmed that the police had that equipment and capacity,” he said.
He also questioned if the equipment was “misplaced” from then to now.
Blanhum had also told the media that the GPF is receiving assistance from an international law enforcement agency in the Fagundes murder probe. He said items recovered from the crime scene were sent overseas for analysis.
Hughes said his intelligence disclosed that the foreign assistance the police was waiting on was the enhancement of the images of the number plate of the getaway car. “….Waiting for that number to be cleaned up or enhanced by some foreign agency is not going to assist you because there is no way they would have used the correct car number,” Hughes said.
Information
At Thursday’s press conference, Blanhum revealed that it was Khan who had provided the police with information on two suspects who allegedly murdered Fagundes.
One was identified as Rondel Bacchus, who was arrested during the probe and later released without being charged.
The other individual was also named. Bascom had said that the man is employed as a private security for a city businessman and was identified as the prime suspect in the murder.
Hughes said after Bacchus was arrested, a video interview was conducted during which he said he was borught into the custody by Bascom. He said the station diary ought to have a record of when Bascom bought in Bacchus. “It was recorded in the station diary,” Hughes said.
Bascom yesterday detailed his first interactions Bacchus.
He admitted that he received a call from Bacchus back in April last year and he was in “panic mode” and asked that he come for him. “He (Bacchus) told me ‘come and get me now buddy. Them man put out a bulletin for me’. I turn and ask he ‘fah wah?’ And he turn and seh ‘duh Palm Court thing, de Palm court shooting’,” Bascom said.
He said he went to CID headquarters for his vehicle after which he drove to Campbellville for Bacchus. “I drive through the back from Narcotic Branch and walk he through the front,” Bascom said.
He said a number of ranks, including one of his superior,s witnessed when he brought Bacchus in at CID.
In terms of the other suspect, Bascom said he was on duty when he was summoned by one of his superiors. “He (superior) call me and he seh ‘come. Flash this picture’ and he took out his phone and he tell me to flash the information from he phone,” Bascom explained.
The information included the name and address of the second suspect in Fagundes murder. He was later provided with a photograph.
Upon seeing the photograph, Bascom said he recognized the second suspect as an employee of a popular city gold dealer. He was sent to locate the suspect but on arrival at his residence did not find him there. A search was carried out on his premises. “…When we go to the first bedroom, the wardrobe door was open and the clothes deh pull out as if somebody call he and give he a tip off,” Bascom said.
He later did a “stake out” at his work place but the suspect never turned up. “We park outside and wait and after he didn’t show up duh is when we left and went back to CID headquarters,” Bascom added.
Upon his return, Bascom said he reported to his superior and was never asked to further pursue the suspect.
Failure
With all the evidence available and still being unable to solve the murder of Fagundes, Hughes said the GPF should have requested the assistance of international experts in the case.
“…After a year and a half where they have all that technological evidence available, then I think perhaps they should have said we need help and allow foreign experts and countries that are friendly to provide that assistance,” he said.
“…They have to admit. 17 or 18 months, that’s a failure if you can’t solve this crime. There is no dispute about how the man died. There is no dispute about the bullets used to shoot him… there is no issue about the angle in which the bullets entered the body. The only issue here is the identity of the perpetrators. You have cars. You have video footage. You have the unexplained fact that no roadblocks were set up. You have the time at which the car was burnt at Swan. Everything that any reasonable police force would use to solve the crime and they have not solve it and they have no even bothered to reassure the citizens of when this crime is likely to be solved,” Hughes lamented.
Bascom has been a member of the GPF for over 12 years. He said he contemplated resigning before. However, due to his love for policing and crime fighting in particular, he remained. “I was contemplating to leave long but being a police is something that I like doing. I like helping people especially when it comes to crime fighting,” he said.
