SOCU Head sues Paul Slowe for $70M over defamation claims

Head of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) Fazil Karimbaksh has filed a whopping $70 million lawsuit against former Assistant Commissioner of Police, Paul Slowe over defamation claims.

Slowe, according to reports, had allegedly made comments about Karimbaksh on a recent social media programme. Karimbaksh has also secured a High Court injunction, which prohibits Slowe from referring to him as “corrupt, incompetent, unprofessional, unfit and vindictive”.
Slowe, former Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), was suspended in October 2021 and was granted bail when he appeared before Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on charges related to fraud and sexual assault.

He was not required to plead to one fraud charge and three counts of sexual assault. It is alleged that Slowe sexually assaulted a senior policewoman in 2019 on three occasions.
All three allegations state that Slowe touched the woman in a sexual way, on her leg, without her consent.
On the sexual assault charges, he was granted $75,000 bail while on the fraud charge, he was granted $100,000 bail.
Also, in May 2021, the Force had announced that Slowe had been implicated in an ongoing investigation which is part of a massive investigation into financial irregularities at the GPF.
It is alleged that Slowe, five former retired senior officers, one current Assistant Commissioner, one former female Finance Officer, and a male officer attached to the Police Finance Office conspired with each other and other persons to defraud the GPF of in excess of $10 million.
However, in court documents seen by this publication, Karimbaksh is contending that following the charges being instituted against him, Slowe created a social media programme that is broadcast on Facebook and YouTube, titled “Speaking Out: Exposing Corruption and Incompetence”.
“The said Facebook and YouTube pages were created by the defendant or at his instruction for the sole purpose of launching character attacks on the…officers that are investigating him for these offences in an effort to prejudice the investigations,” the SOCU Head argued in his legal submissions to the court.
“Since creating the said Facebook and YouTube pages, the defendant regularly publishes and causes to be published defamatory materials about and concerning the claimant,” Karimbaksh further submitted.
He highlighted a specific instance whereby the Facebook page published the following words, “Senior Superintendent Fazil Karimbaksh has disciplinary matters pending against him. He is known to be vindictive and unprofessional, yet he remains in charge of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) which he has used to carry out his personal vendettas.”
This publication, Karimbaksh pointed out, was shared twelve times and had more than 100 interactions.
The SOCU Head further cited other instances where his character was brought into disrepute on the two social media pages.
It was argued that as a consequence of the publications, the claimant’s reputation has been “seriously harmed and he has suffered considerable hurt, embarrassment, distress, and anxiety”.
“The number of publications and the continuing nature of the defamation has increased the defamatory sting,” Karimbaksh further contended in his legal submissions.
As such, the SOCU Head secured the injunction barring the social media pages from publishing defamatory statements against Karimbaksh.