Ricardo Fagundes’s murder: Bascom says was never interviewed by foreign team probing allegations

– to challenge DPP’s decision to discontinue charge against Crime Chief

In addition to Caricom’s Regional Security System (RSS), it was reported that a foreign team of investigators was in Guyana to further probe the damning allegations of corruption and bribery made against the Guyana Police Force (GPF), but neither Sergeant Dion Bascom nor his lawyer Nigel Hughes was interviewed.
The probe was initiated into the March 2021 murder of gold dealer Ricardo Fagundes following damning allegation by the serving member of the GPF.
During a press conference at his Leopold Street, Georgetown law firm on Friday, which came on the heels of a decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC, to discontinue the private criminal charge filed under the Cybercrime Act by his client against Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum, Hughes briefed the media on several issues and answered questions.

“Nobody didn’t speak to me”
Hughes was asked whether he and his client were contacted by the team of foreign investigators.
Responding, the senior lawyer said: “I’m sorry…I cannot assist you with that. I have not seen the foreign team… I have not met the foreign team. I have not spoken to the foreign team.”
When the same question was put to Sergeant Bascom, he replied, “Nobody didn’t speak to me.”
Fagundes, a close friend of convicted drug trafficker Roger Khan, was riddled with bullets by two men who had pulled up in a car outside of the Palm Court on March 21, last year.
To date, no one has been charged with his murder, and his family believes that there is some truth behind Sergeant Bascom’s allegations. They have continued to mount protests outside the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters in their quest for justice.

Facebook Lives
On August 8 last, Sergeant Bascom was among several persons arrested by the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) after a quantity of cocaine was discovered at a Norton Street, Georgetown house.
While a charge for trafficking in narcotics was laid against some of the persons, none was laid against Sergeant Bascom.
Three days later, the Sergeant subsequently made several Facebook Live videos in which he made damning allegations of corruption against several senior Police Detectives and a prominent businessman, Azruddin Mohamed. He later deleted the posts out of fear for his family members’ lives.

Report not credible
Ever since Sergeant Bascom’s damning allegations were made on August 11, the Government had promised a “total” independent investigation into Fagundes’s murder and had solicited assistance from the RSS, which Guyana had assented to earlier this year.
The team, however, found that there was no evidence of corrupt practices or attempt to cover up the probe into the murder. The team also found that the two live recordings made by Bascom were in contravention of Section 19 (5) (a) of the Cybercrime Act.
While the RSS’s complete report was not released to the public, Home Affairs Ministry last week issued a statement purporting to represent the findings of the investigations.
At the media conference, Sergeant Bascom’s counsel again called on the Government to release the complete report; stating that it is difficult to deem the report credible due to numerous key flaws, one being the RSS’s failure to interview his client, the whistleblower.
The RSS found, too, that Bascom’s statements were untrue as they were in retaliation for him being arrested over the drug bust. Hughes, however, rejected this assertion, pointing out that if the RSS team had embarked upon the most rudimentary of steps, which is to speak to the whistleblower himself, he would have indicated many things to them.
This, he said, includes the fact that he had reported his concerns about how the Fagundes’s murder investigation was being handled to then Police Commissioner Nigel Hoppie.
With proof in hand, the lawyer made reference to several printed copies of WhatsApp messages
his client sent to Hoppie, Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn, and President Dr Irfaan Ali, in which he expressed that the investigation into the murder was compromised.

“Very unfortunate”
Nevertheless, Hughes expressed that it is “very unfortunate” that the RSS cannot deliver a credible review.
And in light of this, he said that countries that possess the investigative capacity are necessary, citing the USA’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and similar organisations in the UK and Canada.
Since his numerous calls for RSS’s report to be made public have fallen on deaf ears, including a request made to acting Police Commissioner Clifton Hicken, Hughes said that he has written to Commissioner of Information, Charles Ramson, Sr requesting a copy of the report.
He pointed out that the request to Ramson was made pursuant to the Access to Information Act.

Challenge
Describing the DPP’s withdrawal of the private criminal charge under the Cybercrime Act against Blanhum as “unusual”, Hughes has vowed to challenge her decision all the way to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
Blanhum, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, was scheduled to be arraigned next Wednesday before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan.
Police Headquarters, on Thursday, informed that the charge was discontinued pursuant to the powers conferred on the DPP under Article 187 (1) (C) of the Constitution of Guyana.
“A missive was today [Thursday] dispatched to the Chief Magistrate by the DPP about the aforementioned,” the statement outlined.
The Police explained that the lawyers for the Crime Chief contended that the charge was an abuse of the court’s process and was nothing more than an attempt to intimidate Blanhum as well as senior Police Officers who were expected to testify in the matter against the Sergeant.

Most unusual
Commenting on the discontinuation of the charge against Blanhum, Hughes said, “This is a most unusual development, perhaps unprecedented for this reason: the Director of Public Prosecutions has the power to withdraw charge, but her constitutional power is premised on the fact that she will act reasonably and that she will not act capaciously and that there will be a legal basis and foundation for her actions.”
According to him, the DPP has not sought to find out from him or Sergeant Bascom upon what basis the charges were brought. Alluding to a press conference at which he said the Crime Chief, among other things, accused his client of being malicious, a liar, and less than truthful, Hughes explained that this was the reason upon which he instituted private criminal charges against the senior Policeman.
He also rejected the DPP’s assertion that the charge against Blanhum was an attempt to intimidate him. “That is a most perplexing statement”, Hughes said, adding that the DPP was over-enthusiastic in rushing to withdraw the charge when she was not privy to the evidence.

Charged
Bascom was on Wednesday arraigned at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on cybercrime charges in connection with the Facebook Live videos. He appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan where he denied the three charges filed under the Cyber Crime Act.
It is alleged that on two occasions between August 13 and August 19, he used a computer system to transmit electronic data with the intent to humiliate, harass or cause distress to Superintendent Mitchell Caesar; and on one occasion, Superintendent Chabinauth Singh.
Sergeant Bascom was granted $300,000 bail in total – $100,000 bail on each of the three charges. He is expected to return to court on September 21.
At Friday’s media conference, his lawyer revealed that similar charges were filed against him at courts in the East Demerara Magisterial District. His first appearance is set for November.
However, the Police Sergeant, according to Hughes, is still awaiting a response from President Ali on his appeal for witness protection under the Protected Disclosures Act. Given the discontinuation of the charge and no reply from the President, he revealed that he is considering other recourse to not only protect his client but to ensure those who have wronged him are brought to justice.

Debunked
The acting Police Commissioner and the Crime Chief have already debunked Sergeant Bascom’s allegations, calling them “malicious and untrue”.
Businessman Azruddin Mohamed, who, from the onset, had distanced himself from the allegations, has since filed a $200 million defamation lawsuit against Sergeant Bascom.
The businessman, in his Statement of Claim (SoC), argued that the words and statements uttered by the cop are all untrue, false, dangerous, disingenuous, malicious, irrational, unfair, unsubstantiated, unfounded, and baseless, thereby tarnishing and lowering his reputation.
Superintendent Caesar, through his lawyer, had threatened to take legal action against Sergeant Bascom if he did not remove the posts, and offer him an apology and $50 million compensation.