Head of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) Assistant Commissioner Fizul Karimbaksh today rejected a ‘Big Smith News Watch’ report on the purchase of a property at Schoonord, West Demerara.
A release from SOCU said that the article states, among other things, that “Assistant Commissioner of Police Calvin Brutus has come forward to reveal that the head of the Special Organised Crime Unit, Fizal Karimbaksh ‘reportedly’ contributed 25% of the total sum that he, Brutus, paid to purchase a property in West Demerara earlier this year which carried a price tag of GYD 20,000,000 (twenty Million Guyana Dollars). Brutus has also confirmed that the SOCU head did indeed gift him and his wife, a substantial monetary gift for their wedding back in 2023.”
Karimbaksh said that the contents of the article are egregious, patently false and libelous, without merit and dangerously misleading to the public.
He added: “This is the most vile abuse and misuse of press freedom. I wish to call on the Guyana Press Association” to act. The Assistant Commissioner said that there is no evidence to substantiate the “preposterous” article.
The SOCU head said he will be instituting legal proceedings against “Big Smith News Watch” and its publisher, Leroy Smith and will also instruct a criminal investigation to be instituted in respect to obstruction of justice.
