Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has made it clear that investigations into allegations of corruption in the Guyana Police Force and against Asst. Police Commissioner, Calvin Brutus will be free from internal and external influence.

During a press conference at his party’s Freedom House headquarters this afternoon, Mr. Jagdeo said recent allegations of corruption against Senior Officers of the Force, are worrying for the image of the Force. However, he noted that the Government is prepared to get to the bottom of the issue, in order to clean things up.

A few days ago, Home Affairs Minister Robseon Benn, hammered the top brass of the Police Force and raised concerns about alleged procurement fraud within the Guyana Police Force.

Mr. Benn said that government is not prepared to tolerate corruption in the force, since complaints against senior officers have been mounting.

Today, Mr. Jagdeo confirmed that the complaints and allegations will be investigated by the Special Organized Crime Unit, (SOCU), and he promised that such investigations will not be corrupted.

“And I can to you, there will be no pressure by anyone in the Police Force, because the President himself is looking into this matter and all these matters. There will be no pressure by anyone internally, to alter the course of this investigation or any other investigation of malpractice anywhere in the country or in the police force,” the Vice President stated

There have also been calls, especially from the political opposition for there to be an external investigation into the operation of the Force and Senior Officers. But, Vice President Jagdeo today said SOCU is well-equipped to take care of any such investigation and will be leading the charge.

“In this case, we got SOCU to do it, that was set up by the law to do that in relation to Brutus. There are allegations of corruption against Brutus, he is on leave and SOCU has been ordered to do the investigation by the government,” Mr. Jagdeo said.

However, Mr. Jagdeo said caution must be exercised when dealing with the question of the Police Force. He said the entire Force cannot be painted with a single brush because of bad behaviour of a few. He said once an Officer is found in the wrong, that officer must be held accountable.

“But having said that, we don’t want to vilify policemen too, because somehow people believe that it is an open season on policemen a lot of them do a great job and they are hard working people serving this country and we must not for the purpose of politics or ratings vilify people in the police force,” Jagdeo stated.

Mr. Jagdeo said the issue raised by the Home Affairs Minister about procurement fraud within the Force is an issue that has been worrying the Government.

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