GEORGETOWN, Guyana – The government has described as “palpably erroneous” the United States Department of State’s 2022 Human Rights Report claim that a serious allegation made against senior officers of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) last year was not investigated.
Attorney General Anil NandlallSection 4 of the report titled ‘Corruption and Lack of Transparency in Government’ specifically highlights an allegation made by interdicted Sergeant Dion Bascom in August 2022, claiming that a businessman bribed GPF members to “foil” the investigation into the killing of Ricardo Fagundes.
The report noted that as of October 2022, police had not investigated Bascom’s claims.
Attorney General Anil Nandlall said in a statement on Wednesday that it was unclear where the Department of State gathered its information from.
“However, what is clear is that the information published in relation thereto is patently false. The Government of Guyana will soon engage the Department of State in respect of the inaccuracies highlighted hereof as well as other matters contained in the said report with a view of having such falsehoods corrected,” it said.
Denying that claim, Nandlall said it is a matter of public record that the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) of the GPF in August 2022 conducted an investigation into the matter and a report was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for legal advice.
“Interestingly, Bascom had refused to participate in the probe or provide any evidence to support his allegations,” he said.
“Additionally, the Government of Guyana requested assistance from the CARICOM Regional Security System (RSS) to investigate the said allegation. The investigative team was headed by a former Detective Chief Inspector of the Metropolitan Police Service, Serious and Organized Crime Command (United Kingdom). Upon completion of the investigation, a report was issued and published in the media on September 10, 2022.”
The findings of the report included that the bribery allegations made by Sergeant Bascom against two senior GPF officers that they attempted to cover up the unlawful killing/ homicide of Fagundes “were hearsay having no provenance”.
Bascom alleged that the GPF tried to cover up the unlawful killing but, according to the report, there is evidence that the GPF diligently sought regional and international assistance in solving this case.
Bascom further alleged that there was a device in the possession of the police which identified Mark Richmond’s cell phone as being at the scene of Fagundes’ homicide.
However, the report stated that the GPF’s technical officer confirmed that the police force does not have any such technology and that Bascom was never at the crime scene with him.
