RSS finds no cover-up in ‘Paper Shorts’ murder probe

Sep 10, 2022 News

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– calls Bascom’s allegations hearsay

Kaieteur News

By Shervin Belgrave

The Home Affairs Ministry stated on Friday that the Regional Security System (RSS) has found no evidence of a police cover-up in the murder of Ricardo Fagundes better known as ‘Paper Shorts’.

Instead, according to the Ministry, accusations made by police Sergeant Detective Dion Bascom that there was a cover-up was only “hearsay.”

President Mohamed Irfaan Ali had recently requested the services of the RSS after the detective via his lawyer, Nigel Hughes, had asked him for protection.

Bascom’s need for protection arose after he had made a Facebook live accusing his superiors at the police force’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of accepting a $30M bribe to cover-up Paper Shorts’ murder. Those superiors were identified by Bascom as Superintendent Mitchell Caesar and Inspector Nigel Stephen. Bascom even implicated two suspects – Mark Richmond, a security guard employed at Mohamed’s Enterprise on Lombard Street and prominent businessman, Azruddin Mohamed – and had stated that the evidence linking them to the crime was never used by Caesar. That evidence, according Bascom, was obtained with the use of technology. He claimed that the technology placed Richmond at the crime scene and showed that he was in contact with Mohamed during and after the time of the murder.

The Guyana Police Force (GPF) had not only denied the claims but had called Bascom a liar and even investigated him for breaching its code of conduct. Nevertheless, Bascom stood by his allegations and publicly related that he has evidence to back them up but was fearful for his life and needed protection.

The detective was fearful that the GPF would allow harm to come his way because, according to him, one of the suspects in the investigation had threatened him but the force had not even investigated the matter. The Crime Chief, Wendell Blanhum, had confirmed that the CID was aware of the alleged threat but did nothing to help Bascom because “ranks there don’t investigate threats.” The detective was advised to lodge a report at the Brickdam Police Station but the ranks there too did not deal with the matter.

Meanwhile, instead of granting the detective protection, President Ali had called for the RSS to investigate his allegations and review the Paper Shorts murder probe. An official request for the RSS support was made by the Home Affairs Ministry, and the security body agreed.

In the statement sent out by the ministry on Friday, a former Detective Inspector of the Metropolitan Police Service, Serious and Organised Crime Command (United Kingdom) was deployed to provide assistance.

RSS’s main objectives in the probe as stated in the release, were “to determine whether the GPF has effectively investigated the unlawful killing/homicide of Ricardo Fagundes, to determine whether there is any evidence to support any wrongdoing by Superintendent Mitchell Caesar and Inspector Nigel Stephens of the GPF as alleged by Sergeant Dion Bascom and to review the investigation of the Fagundes case by the GPF and any actions taken by the investigating officers.”

According to the statement, Bascom’s allegations of a police “cover-up” in the Paper Shorts homicide investigation “were hearsay having no provenance” and caused the “veracity” of his claims to be questioned.

Bascom was even accused of breaking Guyana’s cybercrime law by making such accusations in two Facebook lives.

The RSS, based on the ministry’s statement, also found that Bascom’s claims cannot be trusted because he has been “living rent-free in a furnished property at Essequibo owned by an Essequibo gold trader.”

The RSS sought to discredit Bascom by relating that he has breached the Police Act by working for the same gold trader without permission from the Commissioner of Police. Bascom was also accused of leaking information to the media.

As it relates to the murder investigation, the RSS upheld all of the force’s claims and stated that it has done extensive work in probing Paper Short’s unlawful killing.

Some of the GFS’s claims that the RSS upheld include that it has sought international help in the matter, and that initial information received from the victim’s close associate, who was with him on the night he was killed, about suspects in the matter, were inaccurate.

“The close associate said that Fagundes was driving the vehicle (the vehicle took the victim to a bar on Main Street, Georgetown before he was killed) on arrival at the location of the incident. However, CCTV records show that the said associate was the one driving. CCTV also show that his description of the movement of the vehicle, whilst in the area, was also inaccurate and he neglected to tell officers about the third person who arrived at the club with them in the vehicle,” the RSS stated.

Another claim by the force that the RSS upheld is that the GPF is not in possession of any technology, device, or equipment, like Bascom had claimed, that can triangulate phone calls.

After upholding all of the GPF’s claims about the Paper Shorts murder investigation and against Bascom, the RSS “recommended support for the Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory from a Regional laboratory to assist in analysing some samples of interest (evidence) related to the case.”

The ministry ended the statement by revealing that “Investigations, both nationally and internationally, are actively ongoing to bring this matter (Paper Short’s murder) to finality.”

Fagundes relatives, however, said that the RSS’ report is disappointing, noting that there might be some parts missing.

“All we read in the statement is basically a repeat of what the police had said and its looks more like an attack on Bascom, an Essequibo businessman, and Paper (Short’s) friend, there’s nothing there relating to the investigation of the murder,” a relative told this publication.

“There are no recommendations on what the force can do to bring his killers to justice and solve the case quickly, no update on the progress of the investigation. I want to know how they were able to find footage to show that the friend lie to them but yet them can’t find footage to show who the killers are or where they went or where them come from but they could find footage to prove people lying and not find any to solve the case,” the individual continued.

Meanwhile, Paper Shorts’ close associate accused of giving the force inaccurate statements, has related that no investigator from the regional security body has reach out to interview him in the probe.

The associate said, “It is mentioned there that I give inaccurate statements, but they never talked to me or confront me with their evidence during an interview.”

Paper Shorts was shot more than 20 times in March 2021 by two men moments after stepping out of a popular night spot on Main Street, Georgetown. The men had emerged from the back seat of a waiting white Toyota Fielder car which was heavily tinted.

Police had later found a burnt-out car at a location along the Soesdyke/Linden Highway.

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