‘Paper Shorts’ murder… Opposition wants independent probe of Bascom’s allegations
News
Kaieteur News – Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton, on Tuesday, called for independent and international experts to investigate recent allegations made by a senior detective, Sergeant Dion Bascom. Bascom has accused his superiors at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of accepting a bribe to cover up the gruesome murder of Ricardo Fagundes aka ‘Paper Shorts’.
Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton
‘Paper Shorts’ was riddled with more than 20 bullets on March 2021. However, recently Bascom went public accusing the force of covering up the investigation into the murder.
He even named a suspect, Mark Richmond better known as ‘Shop man’ and implicated prominent businessman Azruddin Mohamed in the crime. As it relates to the cover-up, he accused a Superintendant of Police, Mitchell Caesar, of taking a $30M bribe to destroy evidence.
All three parties have threatened to sue him for defamation of character and the police’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) has launched an investigation into his allegations.
Sergeant Dion Bascom
However, many political figures do not trust the OPR to carry out a fair investigation into Bascom’s claims of a cover-up and Norton is one of them.
In a statement on Tuesday, Norton said, “Detective Bascom’s allegations are, on the face of it, serious enough to warrant an immediate and full-blown investigation.”
While the Opposition supports such an investigation, the Opposition Leader wants it to be done by independent and international experts.
“We, the Opposition, support the position that such an investigation should be conducted by independent international experts and be launched promptly, without the usual game-playing by the Government or the Police High Command,” the statement read.
Additionally, the Opposition said that it supports Bascom’s lawyer’s request for him to be granted witness protection and other measures common to whistle-blowing arrangements. The detective is being represented by Prominent Attorney, Nigel Hughes.
Bascom has publicly stated that he will not succumb to the threats of lawsuits and stands by the allegations he has made.
