Reporters continue to be met with silence from the Guyana Police Force’s Public Relations Department over the investigation into rape and threatening behaviour allegations against Deputy Commissioner of Police Fazil Karimbaksh, with no further information forthcoming and no criminal charges filed against the senior officer.
Repeated attempts by journalists to obtain an update on the investigation have gone unanswered.
The continued lack of information has left the public without clarity on the status of a case involving the head of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), more than a month after the Police Force publicly acknowledged the investigation.
Just days ago, the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said it was not in receipt of the investigation file, a response which contradicts earlier reports that the investigation file had been completed and forwarded to the DPP for legal advice.
The absence of an official police update is not new. When the allegations first emerged in September, repeated media requests for a response from the Guyana Police Force went unanswered. Questions posed by reporters in the Joint Services WhatsApp group, which includes senior police officials and Minister of Home Affairs Oneidge Walrond, also received no response.
The Force eventually acknowledged the investigation on October 2, following public confirmation by Walrond even as the initial statement did not identify Karimbaksh by name or disclose any other information.
The police subsequently announced that Police Commissioner Clifton Hicken had established an investigative team and that Karimbaksh had been sent on leave pending the outcome of the investigation. The female Police Inspector who made the complaint was also transferred to Regional Police Division Four ‘A’, reportedly at her request.
However, that arrangement was subsequently thrown into uncertainty after Hicken withdrew the October 7 letter granting Karimbaksh leave, following further consideration of the constitutional and legal authority governing the office of Deputy Commissioner.
The Attorney General’s Chambers had provided a nine-page legal opinion which recommended that Hicken rescind the leave letter and that the President address the matter. The opinion distinguished between leave, suspension, disciplinary proceedings and removal from office, noting that the legal authority for each measure had to be established.
Karimbaksh’s attorneys had also challenged the Commissioner’s authority to grant the leave and disputed the calculation of their client’s vacation entitlement.
The allegations were made by a serving female Police Inspector, who reportedly accused the senior officer of having sexual intercourse with her without her consent on two occasions, threatening to kill her if she ended their alleged relationship and pointing a firearm at her during a subsequent confrontation.
Since then, women’s organisations, civil society representatives and political figures have called for an independent investigation and measures to protect the complainant.
Red Thread’s Karen De Souza questioned the independence of an internal police investigation and called for the complainant to be protected from pressure, while arguing that Karimbaksh should be removed from any position in which he could influence the process.
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