A detective has accused senior ranks of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) of major corruption, including accepting a multi-million dollar payoff from a city businessman to cover up the murder of Roger Khan associate Ricardo Fagundes.
Detective Sergeant Dion Bascom’s bombshell allegations, which he made in a live broadcast on Facebook on Thursday night, have since triggered a probe by the GPF’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR).
A source told Stabroek News that he was contacted by the head of the unit and asked to come in for an interview. It is unclear whether Bascom did so yesterday.
Both acting Police Commissioner Clifton Hicken and President Irfaan Ali declined to speak on the allegations when approached on Friday.
Bascom’s status within the force as of yesterday remained unknown.
His decision to go public came in wake of his recent arrest in connection with a drug bust and what he described as mistreatment that he and other ranks have faced while serving the GPF.
Bascom was among five persons who were arrested on Monday, August 8, after a search by the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) unearthed parcels of cocaine at a Norton Street, Georgetown premises.
Two individuals, Akeem Lashley and Bascom’s friend Andre Clarke, were charged on Thursday over the drugs. Lashley claimed ownership of the drugs and was sentenced to four years in jail and fined while Clarke was released on $150,000 bail.
Bascom and the two others who were detained at the premises were released from custody without being charged.
Following the broadcast of his live video on Thursday night, Bascom deleted the video and explained in a subsequent post that he was “forced to do so.”
In the Facebook post, Bascom said his family was fearing for their lives. “My family grew very fearful knowing how wicked and vindictive some top ranks in the police force are,” he said.
“I want to put on record that should anything happen to me and my family the police force, which is being controlled by a particular gold dealer, will be responsible,” the post read.
Cover up
In short clips extracted from the live broadcast and seen by Stabroek News, Bascom, who said he had been a member of the GPF for 12 years, voiced his frustration at being used by force without receiving any credit for his work.
He also said he was tired of hidden corrupt practices involving senior members within the force. It was against this background that he cited the Fagundes case.
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. Khan would later say he was the intended target of the attack.
The police recovered 30 spent shells at the scene. Sixteen were from an AK-47 rifle, while the other fourteen were from a 9mm gun.
To date, the murder remains unsolved.
Bascom, who said that he was one of the officers who was present at the scene following the shooting, shared that an individual who works as a security agent for a city businessman had been identified as the prime suspect in the murder.
Bascom also alleged that a senior officer from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) received $30 million bribe to bury the matter.
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. “….They use everything and destroy all the evidence but they forget how….technology does wuk,” Bascom said during the live feed.
He further stated that they even visited a business place where the suspect was believed to have been but upon arrival they learnt that he wasn’t there. The suspect left after being “tipped off,” Bascom said.
Targeted
In the live broadcast, Bascom expressed his belief that he is being targeted for speaking out against the wrongdoings within the force.
Explaining the reason why he decided to speak out, Bascom said at the time of the CANU bust he was visiting a friend, Clarke, who lives at the premises.
Clarke is a wheelchair user due to paralysis. “He bedridden….He got tube running….he can’t walk. I does go check he now and then because is meh friend. I know he,” Bascom said.
Bascom related that he would visit Clarke from time to time. In the past, he said he was advised that as a police officer he has to have friends of all nature. “Because information does come from being around hardcore people if you want know things on the street. Because the finance man won’t know certain thing,” he said.
In a section of the live broadcast which was seen by this newspaper, Bascom detailed his account of events while at the Norton Street location.
He said when he arrived at the location a CANU officer was already present. “When I pull up there, there was a CANU guy standing at the gate who I know. I raise me hand to he. He raise back he hand to me and hail me up,” Bascom said.
He added that he then ventured into the yard where he met Clarke. “….Andre does be pun a bed…..He does meet all kinda people…people does come and check pun he and suh. Not because he (Clarke) thing you gone give up on a man. Is me friend but he choose he way of life and he won’t do certain thing in front ah me,” he stated.
Bascom said he was seated on the stairs when two armed men rushed into the Norton Street yard. “One ah them come to me and turn and tell me ‘Get up! Get up! Get up!’ I seh man ‘Duh is how you does do it?’ He seh ‘Get up leh I search yuh!’ So I seh ‘Man, duh is how ayo does approach people?’ And he end up tek out he gun….I stand up and I seh ‘Boy I is a Sergeant of Police. Yuh pulling yuh gun pun me? Duh is how yall does do things?’” Bascom recounted.
Reports are that he called one of his superiors and reportedly placed his phone on speaker for the CANU officials to hear and it was the superior who ordered that Bascom be placed in the lock-ups.
Already feeling wronged, the instruction made Bascom, who said for “long” he has seen police crime fighters being mistreated and not recognized for the work they do, angrier. “…The big boy them does sit down upstairs and when we go solve the crime them does get praise for everything that we do,” Bascom told the live broadcast.
‘I stand by my words’
After being asked by the media yesterday whether there would be a response to the allegations levelled by Bascom, Deputy Director of the GPF’s Corporate Communication Unit Stan Gouveia, in a brief statement, announced that the investigation had been launched by the OPR.
“The Guyana Police Force has taken note of a video which was circulating on social media which has now been deleted, and a subsequent post on Facebook by Dion Bascom. The Office of Professional Responsibility has since been instructed to commence an investigation,” Gouveia said in the brief post.
Saying that he took many weapons off the streets and solved “many” crimes, Bascom said that he was “set up” and “continued to be “set up and sidelined” in the force.
Bascom indicated his willingness to testify before any court or Commission of Inquiry (CoI). “I stand by my words and anyone of them could challenge me in a court of law or at a CoI,” he said in the post.
He also called for the intervention of the American, British and Canadian missions. “I call on the ABC to intervene…..There are some good cops, but they are too afraid to speak out,” Bascom said.
Meanwhile, former Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan yesterday said the allegations made by Bascom were “most alarming” and should be immediately investigated.
“We believe that now that has been borne out publicly there is need, at least, at the very minimum, [for] the police… [to] hold an investigation into this alleged cover up from high quarters within the CID branch of the police force.”
