Home Affairs minister mum on investigators for Brutus probe; AFC Leader calls for Caribbean police investigators

Last Updated on Friday, 12 July 2024, 18:01 by Writer

Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn on Friday refused to say who would be investigating alleged financial improprieties by head of Special Branch and Deputy Police Commissioner (ag) Calvin Brutus, but the Alliance for Change (AFC) recommended that Caribbean police be called in to do the job.

“You will be advised when we do a release,” said Mr Benn when asked who would be conducting the probe. “I’m not speaking to that now,” he said on the question of whether the investigation would be done only by the Guyana Police Force.

Mr Brutus allegedly deposited GY$16.5 million into the Guyana Police Cooperative Credit Union on December 15, 2023 but the money was returned the following day

Financial institutions regulatory and compliance experts told Demerara Waves Online News that Guyana’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of Financing Terrorism laws that a financial institution must refuse deposits of GY$2 million or more if there is insufficient proof of the source of revenues.

But the Home Affairs minister cast doubt on whether there was attempted money laundering. “I’m not sure about laundering of money. I’m concerned about the allegations. A review and investigation would be underway, have to determine what are the specifics of these issues and the public and the press will be informed as we go along the way,” Mr Benn said.

Mr Benn made known his position, even as Leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC) Nigel Hughes said there was need for an independent probe and that the Police Commissioner should step down. He recommended that Guyana asks investigators from other police forces in the Caribbean to come to Guyana and investigate the allegations due to weak public confidence in that local civilian law enforcement agency. “The kind of investigation that will be acceptable will be an external investigation. One of the police forces can provide a top level of investigators to come and conduct this investigation but it certainly cannot be done by anybody in the Guyana Police Force especially where the Commissioner is involved or is alleged to have made statements and it would appear made those statements to provide cover for the entity who clearly is the suspect,” he said.

Mr Hughes referred to Police C0mmissioner Clifton Hicken’s comment to the media on Wednesday that Mr Brutus did not make any deposit into the credit union account. “The statement by the Commissioner of Police that there was no attempted deposit of tens of millions of dollars by his deputy into the credit Union is a cause for great concern and immediately necessitates his standing down as Commissioner during the course of an independent investigation,” he said. The AFC Leader argued that Mr Hicken should be removed from office because he enjoys powers that can influence the conduct of any police investigation into his deputy.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Opposition Leader on Friday demanded that a reputable law enforcement agency such as the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) be called in to investigate corruption in the GPF and other government institutions.

The Police Commissioner left the police annual awards ceremony prematurely before journalists could speak to him.