Justice Gino Persaud this morning barred embattled Assistant Police Commissioner Calvin Brutus from leaving Guyana even as the State revealed that there are over 240 charges pending against him.
Brutus through his attorneys asked the court to leave Guyana to accompany his pregnant wife to the US for urgent medical attention.
However, Justice Persaud refused the application based on the fact that the lawman is facing impending charges. He had questioned the attorneys as to why Brutus’ wife cannot be treated in Guyana but they had countered that there should be no imposition on where medical treatment is sought.
Brutus was in court and he told the court that at no point has the police force attempted to arrest him even though he is the neighbour of Head of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) Fazil Karimbaksh.
Brutus this week moved to the court against the Attorney General, the acting Commissioner of Police and others, arguing that he was being victimized and denied services including a restriction on his accounts.
An application lodged for Brutus also alleged that Cabinet had a role in him being sent on leave and recounted an appearance in court where he was threatened with a wanted bulletin if he did not show up at SOCU, which spearheaded the investigation. The affidavit also accused senior government officials of interference in the matter.
Brutus is seeking a number of declarations from the court including that the acting Commissioner of Police acted ultra vires on July 4 by transferring him from the position of Deputy Commissioner due to “political directives and improper administrative procedures”.
Also being sought by Brutus is a declaration that Cabinet acted ultra vires on July 11 when it instructed acting Commissioner of Police Clifton Hicken to send him on annual leave due to allegations of involvement in financial crimes.
Brutus is seeking a declaration that the rules of natural justice were violated as he was not afforded a fair opportunity to respond.
However, Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday warned that the move was self- destructive as the government has files on him from when he oversaw the procurement system of the police force. “We will respond to the constitutional motion in court and since some charges were made, trust me, our affidavit to respond to those charges may not be beneficial to the particular individual because we will go into great detail about what our findings were in the procurement system … when he was heading the administration of the Police Force,” Jagdeo told a press conference.
He said that his PPP party was sending a signal to the public that it would not condone corruption.