THE police, in a statement yesterday, has refuted as false an iNews Guyana Inc. story headlined, “Sattaur’s son flees ‘pursuers’ in tinted, unmarked vehicle – found out later vehicle was being driven by police officer”.iNews, which is edited by Mark Ramotar, falsely and maliciously claimed that “Law-enforcement officials have once again reportedly engaged in “dangerous driving” tactics in the streets of Georgetown, this time aggressively pursuing the 19-year-old son of Commissioner-General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), Khurshid Sattaur.”

What the report failed to mention, or deliberately omitted, was the fact that it was the son of the Commissioner-General, who was engaged in “dangerous driving” tactics as he overtook a line of vehicles, which were awaiting the direction of the traffic lights at the junction of Sandy Babb Street and Vlissengen Road, Kitty.

The police, noting that the iNews story was “totally untrue and malicious,” explained that during the morning of Saturday, January 16, 2016, a Police Sergeant who is attached to the Traffic Department and was dressed in uniform, was driving a private motor vehicle car along Sandy Babb Street, Kitty, when she observed motor vehicle PRR 4423 overtake a line of other motor vehicles waiting at the traffic lights.

The police stated further that the police rank made a note of the vehicle’s registration number, intent on following up with prosecution. However, she caught up with the vehicle at the intersection of Lamaha and Albert Streets, where she drove up alongside and told the driver of the offence committed but he drove away.

According to the police, the Traffic Sergeant drove behind PRR 4423 and caught up again with the vehicle at Lamaha and East Streets, where she came out and approached the driver whom she learnt to be Fiyad Sattaur of Ogle, East Coast Demerara.

She again told him of the offence committed and requested that he proceed to Traffic Headquarters and he complied, the police statement said. The young Sattaur was subsequently placed on self-bail after being charged with careless driving. He is to appear in court sometime today.

However, according to INews, it “Was reliably informed that on Saturday last, around 09:00hrs, Sattaur’s son Fiyad was driving along Middleton Street,Campbellville, in the city and was proceeding to turn into Sandy Babb Street when he became aware of a heavily tinted vehicle on the road, driving behind him.
The young man was en route to classes at the Islamic School on East Street in Georgetown.”

The iNews story sought to give the impression that the police officer in her private vehicle was trailing the son of the GRA boss at top speed, before they ended up at Sandy Babb Street.

iNews Guyana has been acquired by the Ramroop Media Group, and is one of the news outfits receiving much public criticism for its sensational and misleading news items.