The CARICOM Regional Security System (RSS) has been asked to “evaluate” the now contentious investigation into the murder of gold miner Ricardo Fagundes, President Irfaan Ali has said.
Ali yesterday made this disclosure to online news agencies Demerara Waves and News Room.
“…I have always said that we are governing with transparency. So questions arise out of the investigation, I reached out to RSS and we have asked them to send support to assess and evaluate what has taken place so far in this investigation and to give us their opinion and this is what they are doing,” Ali told News Room in an invited comment.
The RSS team is already in Guyana, Ali said.
The government’s decision to ask the RSS for their assistance in the Fagundes murder probe comes in wake of mounting pressure for an international probe into the allegations made by Police Sergeant Dion Bascom about corruption involving senior members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and a cover-up in the investigation.
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 about 20 times about his body.
The police recovered 30 spent shells at the scene. Sixteen were from an AK-47 rifle, while the other fourteen were from a 9mm weapon. Khan later said he was the intended target of the attack.
To date, no one has been charged for the crime.
At a press conference last Wednesday, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum denied claims of a cover-up in the Fagundes murder probe.
He said the Guyana Police Force (GPF) is receiving assistance from an international law enforcement agency in the investigation. “Several foreign experts visited the CID headquarters that is during the initial stage of the probe and provided valuable assistance to our investigators,” Blanhum said.
He added that items recovered from the crime scene were sent overseas for analysis. The police are still awaiting the results. “This is unknown to Mr Bascom,” he said.
Fagundes’ family recently said they believe the claims made by Bascom about a cover-up in the investigation and called on the relevant authorities to stop hiding the “truth”.
It is unclear whether the RSS will be looking into the allegations made by Bascom.
The police had said that the 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.
However, Stabroek News was reliably informed yesterday that the file is not at the DPP’s Chambers. In fact, this newspaper was told that the DPP Chambers never received any such file.
