Legal Advisor of the Guyana Police Force, Attorney Mandel Moore was ordered into custody briefly this afternoon by Magistrate Leron Daly during the cyber crime case against Police Sergeant Dion Bascom.

The extraordinary decision by the Magistrate followed the repeated failure of the Police Legal Advisor to produce a copy of the press conference hosted by the Police Force to refute cover-up allegations that were made by the Police Sergeant.

Bascom was charged under the Cyber Crime Act two weeks ago over statements he made at a press conference with his Attorney.

According to Attorney Nigel Hughes who is representing Mr. Bascom, when the matter was called earlier this week, the Magistrate requested a copy of the Police press conference from the force’s legal advisor who is prosecuting the case.

The Attorney and Legal Advisor, Mandel Moore told the Court that the Police Force did not record the press conference and was therefore not in possession of a copy.

The Magistrate reminded Moore that the press conference was widely circulated and therefore he should get a copy to present to the Court.

When the matter was called this morning, Attorney Moore told the Court that the Force was still not in possession of a copy and therefore he could not disclose any copy to the Court. The matter was adjourned for two hours with the Attorney getting instructions from the Magistrate to present a copy to the Court by the time the case was called again at 11am.

When the matter was called again, the Police Legal Advisor was back in Court but without a copy, maintaining his position that he could not disclose a copy to the Court. He was given up to 1 o’ clock this afternoon to present the copy of the press conference to the Court.

At 1pm, the Attorney returned to the Court and again told the Magistrate he could not obtain a copy of the press conference and therefore could not disclose it to the Court.

A frustrated Magistrate Daly reminded the Attorney of her powers under the law and immediately instructed his arrest for his decision to repeatedly ignore the Court’s order. The Magistrate also instructed that he be remanded.

Police Sergeant Dion Bascom who has since been interdicted from duty, was charged following his startling revelations that some senior members of the Police Force were involved in covering up the investigations into the murder of biker Ricardo Fagundes outside the Palm Court nightspot.

Bascom made the claims during a social media video post and repeatedly the allegations while at a press conference with his Attorney Nigel Hughes.

The Guyana Police Force in response to the claims by Bascom had called a press conference of its own. At that press conference, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum rubbished the accusations of a cover-up and painted Bascom as a dishonest cop who had gone rogue.

Bascom had filed a private criminal charge against the Crime Chief over his statements, but the matter was withdrawn by the Director of Public Prosecutions without reason, even before it landed in the Court.

Bascom maintains his positions that there was a cover-up of the murder. He also linked a city businessman and his security agent to the cover-up, indicating that the security agent was a suspect in the crime.

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