GEORGETOWN, Guyana President Irfaan Ali said he had asked the Barbados-based Regional Security System (RSS) to investigate the murder of Ricardo “Paper Shorts” Fagundes, who was shot and killed outside a restaurant in the capital more than one year ago.
Last week, acting Police Commissioner, Clifton Hicken, said the findings of the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) into allegations made by a senior police officer alleging a significant police cover-up in the investigations into the murder of Fagundes were now before the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for legal advice.
In a statement, Hicken said it was also unfortunate that Detective Sergeant Dion Bascom’s “unfounded allegations have publicly involved senior members of the Force and other persons.”
Attorney Nigel Hughes last Monday said he had written to President Dr. Irfaan Ali urging that Bascom be placed in a witness protection program.
Hughes said his client had received death threats since making certain utterances on social media against the named senior police officer, the son of a well-known city gold dealer, and his security guard.
Ali said he has the RSS for help to conduct the probe, including Bascom’s allegations that a senior officer was paid GY$30 million by the son of a city gold dealer to cover up the killing.
President Ali told the online Demerara Waves Online News that the RSS has been tasked to “review and assess all aspects of the investigation so far.” “It is not focusing on the Bascom allegations alone. It is focusing on other aspects”.
Demerara Waves reported Monday that the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has already been asked to assess evidence in connection with the destruction by fire of a car that the assailants allegedly used to flee after killing Fagundes on March 21, 2021.
CCTV footage of the incident showed Fagundes walking towards a black vehicle after exiting the nightclub when two gunmen jumped out of a parked vehicle and riddled him with bullets. The burnt remains of the car were found on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway, the main route that connects the village of Soesdyke on the eastern bank of Guyana’s famed Demerara River,
Bascom, 33, who was among five people arrested on Monday by members of the Customs Anti Narcotic Unit (CANU) after a quantity of cocaine was seized at a house in the capital, said in his Facebook video that he was only visiting a friend when the bust was made. He has not been charged and has since been released.
But he alleged that he was being targeted for highlighting concerning occurrences in the GPF, including a cover-up that may have impacted the investigation into the murder of Fagundes.
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