Former Assistant Commissioner of Police Calvin Brutus has suffered another legal setback after Acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty dismissed his abuse of process application, clearing the way for the criminal fraud and money-laundering proceedings against him to continue.
According to a press release from the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), the ruling was handed down on Thursday, with the court finding that the criminal fraud charges now before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court are distinct from the disciplinary charges that had earlier been brought against Brutus and which led to his dismissal from the Guyana Police Force (GPF).
The magistrate found that the two sets of proceedings differed in scope, nature, and penalty, and therefore rejected the defence’s contention that the criminal charges amounted to an abuse of process.
Brutus was charged in October and November 2024 with a total of 252 criminal offences relating to fraud, money laundering, and other serious financial crimes. Those matters remain active before the court.
SOCU said that on January 22, 2026, Brutus filed an interim application seeking to have certain fraud charges stayed, arguing that they were based on the same facts as two disciplinary charges brought against him under the Police (Discipline) Act. His lawyers contended that pursuing both sets of proceedings was improper.
The prosecution, however, argued that disciplinary and criminal proceedings serve different legal purposes and that the existence of one does not prevent the other. It also maintained that Brutus had failed to show any real prejudice, oppression, or misconduct by the prosecution that would justify a stay.
The court agreed with that position and dismissed the application in its entirety.
In a further development, SOCU said that on Thursday, Magistrate McGusty also ruled that two indictable money laundering charges against Brutus and his wife, Adonika Aulder, will proceed by way of paper committal.
The prosecution team includes attorneys-at-law David Brathwaite, Darin Chan, Muntaz Ali, and Natasha Backer, while Brutus is being represented by attorneys Eusi Anderson, Yuborn Allicock, and Earl Daniels, among others.
