Police Superintendent Caesar demands apology, $50M for defamation from Bascom

Superintendent of Police Mitchell Caesar in a Lawyer’s letter to Police Detective Dion Bascom for defamation of character. Caesar in the letter written by Attorney-at-law Sohan Poonai denied allegations levelled against him by Bascom.

Bascom in a video on social media on August 11, 2022 –shortly after he was arrested by ranks of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) in relation to cocaine found in a house at Norton Street, Georgetown –stated that Caesar was unprofessional in the handling of a police investigation regarding the killing of Ricardo Fagundes called “Paper Shorts” and collected $30M to “cover up” the murder. Fagundes was fatally shot on Main Street in March 2021.

Caesar through the letter said  “all of these statements and accusations against my client are patently false, without justification, misleading, defamatory and have caused significant harm and injury to my client, his good name, his reputation and lowered his standing in the Guyanese and international community.”

Bascom challenged, in his video, Caesar and other named ranks to take him to court over the statements which he insisted were true.

The videos were later deleted. However, some persons have downloaded and reshared them to social media.

Caesar is asking for a retraction and apology. “Th apology must include an admittance that the statements uttered by you were false, misleading and utter without justification,” the court document reads.

Further, Caesar is claiming monetary damages in excess of $50,000,000 (fifty million dollars) as compensation for defamation and injunctive relief.

The letter also indicated that the conduct of Bascom may have also reached the level of criminal liability without more, including but not limited to, several breaches of the Cyber Crime Act 2018, Laws of Guyana which may give rise to criminal charges.

In a short statement on Friday, the Guyana Police Force said the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) is investigating the allegations made by Bascom.