The Guyana Police Force (GPF) has deleted an initial statement concerning the alleged leaking of surveillance footage to Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed and issued a revised version, now claiming that a police constable admitted to receiving $800,000 from Mohamed in exchange for the recordings.
In its first statement on Monday, the Force said a 20-year-old constable stationed at its Command Centre was under close arrest as investigators examined allegations that he had unlawfully downloaded and supplied the footage to the Opposition Leader for money.
However, the statement was subsequently removed and replaced with a more detailed account, in which police claimed the constable had admitted his involvement and identified Mohamed as the person who instructed him to obtain the recordings.
According to the revised statement, the constable told detectives that while on duty on Friday, October 23, he discreetly downloaded surveillance footage relating to the October 12 shooting incident outside the Kitty residence of Senior Superintendent Prem Narine.
Police said the rank admitted that he saved the recording to a flash drive on Mohamed’s instructions.
Investigators further alleged that the following day, October 24, Mohamed sent an employee to collect the constable and take him to his Houston, East Bank Demerara, residence.
It was there, according to police, that Mohamed offered and subsequently paid the constable $800,000 in cash in exchange for the flash drive containing the surveillance footage.
The Force also claimed that the constable disclosed that he spent some of the money during a shopping spree before handing the remaining cash to his mother.
Detectives are now attempting to recover the money as investigations continue.
This development came just hours after Mohamed, during a press conference alongside We Invest In Nationhood (WIN) General Secretary Odessa Primus, publicly released surveillance footage of the October 12 incident.
At that press conference, Mohamed claimed that persons within the Police Force’s Special Branch had provided him with the recordings, which he said contradicted the police’s account of the shooting.
Mohamed has maintained that the incident was an attempt on his life and has announced plans to pursue private criminal charges against Senior Superintendent Narine.
The police, however, have maintained a different account of the events surrounding the shooting.
