Corruption scandals

We seem to lurch from one corruption scandal to the next without any of them being resolved. In more recent times there were the allegations involving Mr Su which ate up column inches for a few weeks but produced no outcome. This was despite the fact that there were calls from all sides (bar the government) for some form of international investigation, but the powers that be, it appears, were prepared to wait the matter out until it faded back into the twilight. The most that emerged was a statement from President Irfaan Ali that the government would be going after investors who utilised “middlemen” in relation to their businesses.

Middlemen, of course, were not the essence of the issue, but the head of state showed no inclination even for limited action in the affair, such as the mounting of an investigation into the plethora of Mr Su’s investments, which included large-scale logging operations, quarrying, construction, a bulk fuel facility, and mining permits covering 40,000 acres. It should be added that he was also one of twelve investors who had signed MOUs to build hotels.

Of course a limited exercise involving Mr Su’s various holdings would have inevitably led on to the larger questions involving contracts with various Chinese companies in which Mr Su had implicated Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, an allegation which he has strongly denied and in connection with which he has sued for libel. But the authorities in any case seem to have thought they could afford to wait this one out, firstly because the allegations derived from a foreign media entity, and secondly because the companies involved were all Chinese, who one way or the other were unlikely to have made relevant personnel available to any inquiry.

Mr Su and his business dealings had barely disappeared from the news pages when another shady case rolled around. This one was different in character because the source was very much local and the allegations centred on the Guyana Police Force in addition to a Guyanese company. The matter had connections to an even earlier corruption case involving Mr Roger Khan, who was convicted of drug offences not here, but in the United States. True to form, the local aspects of that case were never pursued.

So now we have policeman, Sergeant Dion Bascom, who has alleged a cover-up on the part of the police in relation to the gunning down of Ricardo Fagundes, an associate of Mr Khan which occurred only a stone’s throw away from State House. The latter subsequently maintained that he was the real target. Mr Bascom claimed a senior officer received $30 million to ensure the case was not pursued, and also named a security guard who worked for a city businessman as being the prime suspect in the murder. Following that Superintendent Mitchell Caesar, who is Deputy Head of the Guyana Police Force’s Major Crimes Unit, and a busi

nessman Azruddin Mohamed as well as one of his employees, Mark Richmond, demanded through their lawyers that Mr Bascom retract the allegations and apologise publicly or face lawsuits. The police sergeant has stood by his claims.

The issue is whether this case too will be waited out, as seems to be customary, or whether some kind of action will be taken. Mr Mohamed on his side has alleged that Mr Bascom’s story has its origins in the fact that the policeman set up a security service for one of his competitors in the gold industry, as a consequence of which he is very close to that businessman. For their part the police were their usual dismissive selves, acting Commissioner Clifton Hicken referring the media to an investigation by the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). Whatever else it may be, the OPR is not an impartial body, controlled as it is by the police themselves. In addition to that, however, the Commissioner produced a masterpiece of obfuscation when describing what it was investigating. He said: “Sergeant Bascom’s public statements – made while serving as an active member of the Guyana Police Force – is in breach of the Code of Conduct of the Police Force. I have, as a result, ordered an immediate investigation of this matter by the Office of Professional Responsibility. The OPR has submitted the findings of their investigation along with their recommendations which is now before the Director of Public Prosecutions for legal advice”.

So is the OPR referring to the Sergeant’s substantive allegations, or a violation of the Code of Conduct? And considering the seriousness of those allegations which any self-respecting police force would want investigated in order to clear itself, why is he conveying the impression that he is more concerned about a breach of the force’s omerta rules, so to speak, than he is about alleged corruption in his force?

The Commissioner also painted Mr Bascom as compromised, and disparaged what he had to say, an approach which was echoed by Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn: “It is not without significance that Sergeant Bascom found himself personally compromised during an exercise carried out by the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit and that his public statement immediately followed this matter,” was his view.

Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum did not deviate from the official approach, although he added one interesting detail that the public was not aware of before. He told a press conference that the GPF had received assistance from an international law enforcement agency in the Fagundes murder probe. “Several foreign experts visited the CID headquarters … during the initial stage of the probe and provided valuable assistance to our investigators.” So was that assistance insufficient for the police to bring charges, the public would like to know? And if it was valuable, why were the police unable to follow up on it?

Mr Bascom is inevitably concerned about his safety, and has asked President Ali for witness protection. There has been no definitive answer in that regard yet, but clearly the police force has no concerns about the need to keep him out of danger, because as we reported yesterday he has been told by the GPF to report “immediately” for duty. The senior echelons of the force are not doing their reputations any good, and given the calls from various quarters in the society for him to be given protection, exposing him by sending him back to work will raise more questions about the police than it answers. Up until this point he was on sick leave.

Their attitude is even more strange given what was said at Vice President Jagdeo’s press conference on Friday, which seemed to suggest a change of direction on the part of the political establishment. He told the media that President Ali had “made it clear that he has given direction to the police force to have a full and complete investigation, with external support.” He went on to say that he did not know whether Mr Bascom was credible or not, but he had made allegations and these would have to be looked into.

As General Secretary of the PPP, Mr Jagdeo said the party stood with the decisions of the President, and would “not have its reputation sullied by any individual”. The ruling party would not condone illegalities by anyone, he insisted.

But that was not all. He also made reference to something which came out first in Commissioner Hicken’s comments, and that was moonlighting on the part of members of the force whereby they provided paid security services on a private basis to businessmen. This apparently is perfectly legal. This raised memories in the public mind of what was once known as the Black Clothes police, a singularly corrupt and violent segment of the force some members of whom gave evidence as witnesses in a US court about their activities during the trial of an American citizen.

“This practice will have to change,” said Mr Jagdeo. He said that police officers would help escort large amounts of gold, and after the gold is bought the police would be paid. It was a practice, he explained, which had been going on for many years. “We have to find another safe way of doing this because when this happens, there is a cosiness that develops between elements in the police and these people …” He is certainly not wrong about that, although it might be added that in the past political elements have also had a “cosiness” with some sections of the force.

The Vice President had nothing to say about witness protection for Mr Bascom, but the President is out of the country, and Mr Jagdeo did say he would make a statement on his return. Perhaps he will address the question then.

If there seem to be indications that this latest corruption matter might be investigated in a real sense, as opposed to the case of Mr Su and the Chinese, it can only be remarked that this time it primarily concerns the GPF. However, as was said in our editorial last Monday, “The abject policing and runaway corruption that Guyanese have had to put up with for decades persists because there is a continuing unwillingness to professionalise the police force.” It remains to be seen, therefore, whether the Bascom allegations will mark the beginning of a reformed government approach to the matter of policing, or whether it is just a one-off investigation which in and of itself will change nothing. If the latter, we might not have to wait too long before the next corruption scandal materialises.