DPP acted within powers in dropping charges against Crime Chief

AFTER concluding that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack-SC, acted within her statutory powers in discontinuing the private criminal charge filed against Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum by now-interdicted Police Sergeant, Dion Bascom, High Court Judge Damone Young has dismissed the sergeant’s application for judicial review of the DPP’s decision.

The charge filed at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts in September 2022 stated that, on August 17, 2022, at Police Headquarters Eve Leary, Blanhum used a computer system to disseminate information, knowing the same to be false, subjecting Bascom to public ridicule.

In a letter dated September 15, 2022, addressed to the Chief Magistrate, Ali-Hack, in the exercise of her powers under Article 187(1)(c) of the Constitution of Guyana, she discontinued the private criminal proceedings against Blanhum. As a result, the charge was dismissed six days later.
In seeking to quash the DPP’s decision, Bascom filed a judicial review application in the Demerara High Court, where he contended, among other things, that she made no inquiries of him or his legal representative as to the evidence that he had intended to use in the charge’s prosecution. He also argued that she did not have any information upon which she could have properly acted in withdrawing the private criminal charge against the Crime Chief and without any basis in law or in fact when the decision to withdraw the charge was made.
Bascom further argued, inter alia, that the decision taken by the DPP “was unreasonable, irrational, irregular, improper, and unsupported by any facts and or information available to the respondent [DPP] at the time the decision was made.” He contended that the decision to discontinue the proceedings against Blanhum was an abuse of the DPP’s power and made “in bad faith and/or for an improper purpose and/or took into account irrelevant considerations.”

The DPP, in her Affidavit in Defence stated that the charge filed against Blanhum was based on a press conference hosted by the Commissioner of Police, Clifton Hicken, on August 17, 2022.
She said that Blanhum, at the time, was acting in his capacity as the Assistant Commissioner and was responding to questions posed by members of the press regarding allegations made by Bascom against the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and its members.
In the exercise of her discretion, the DPP said that she found that the charge against Blanhum did not have any reasonable prospect of success, so she withdrew it. Her contention was that the Crime Chief did not use a computer system to ridicule Bascom in violation of the provisions of the Cybercrime Act, but was only responding to questions put to him by reporters.

In her written decision delivered on Friday, Justice Younge held that the DPP is “vested with very wide powers in any case prior to the delivery of judegment to discontinue any criminal proceedings.” She, however, noted that though such a decision is not unfettered, cases have established that it will only be in exceptional circumstances that a prosecutorial decision will be reviewed.  “Whilst the applicant [Bascom] in the matter under consideration has made sweeping assertions of bad faith, improper purpose and taking irrelevant considerations into account, no evidence was adduced to substantiate these claims,” the judge pointed out.

With regard to Bascom’s submission that Ali-Hack did not reach out to him or his attorney-at-law regarding the private criminal proceedings or request from him the statements and evidence he intended to use as the basis for the charge, Justice Young held that there is “no legal requirement for this to be done”. She added: “This Court in the instant matter, is not persuaded that the statements made by Blanhum at the press conference and the circumstances under which they were made were factors which fell outside the wide scope of matters to which the Respondent may have regard. This court is of the considered view that the [DPP] can, and did properly, take such matters into account when she decided to withdraw the private criminal charge instituted by the Applicant against Mr. Blanhum.”
Having reviewed the application and affidavit evidence of the parties and considered the written submissions of counsel for both sides, the Judge said that she was not satisfied that the order sought by Bascom ought to be granted.
In light of the determinations made, Justice Younge dismissed Bascom’s Fixed Date Application and ordered him to pay a cost of $150,000 to the DPP on or before July 22, 2024.

On August 8, 2022, Bascom was arrested during a Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) raid at a home in Norton Street, Georgetown. He was eventually released and was not charged. Days later, he posted a live video on social media, which he later deleted, claiming, among other things, that there was a cover-up up in the 2021 murder of Ricardo Fagundes to protect a well-known businessman and that a large bribe had been paid.  Fagundes’ murder remains unsolved. Popular gold dealer and biker, 42-year-old Fagundes was gunned down outside a popular club on Main Street, Georgetown, on March 21,

2021.  He was shot more than a dozen times. Bascom claimed that his detention by CANU had to do with his work on the murder case.
The businessman has since filed a $200 million lawsuit against Bascom in relation to the claims he made. The businessman is contending that the allegations made by Bascom are false.
The Regional Security System (RSS) conducted a thorough review of the police investigators’ efforts and confirmed the absence of any evidence indicating an intent to conceal the murder of Fagundes. The RSS additionally determined that there was no indication of corrupt practices within the Police Force.
At the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, Bascom is currently being tried for cybercrime offenses reportedly committed against two high-ranking police officials. He is currently out on bail and has been prohibited from certain activities.