The absence of a functioning Police Service Commission (PSC) does not prevent a criminal investigation into the allegations against Deputy Commissioner Fazil Karimbaksh, a source familiar with police disciplinary procedures has said, while questioning whether an investigation conducted solely by ranks of the GPF could be considered independent.

Speaking to Kiskadee Watch on condition of anonymity, the source said the investigation of alleged criminal conduct must be distinguished from disciplinary proceedings and any subsequent steps to suspend or remove an officer from office.

The comments follow Home Affairs Minister Oneidge Walrond’s disclosure that Commissioner of Police Clifton Hicken had appointed a team to investigate allegations of rape and threatening behaviour against Karimbaksh, who heads the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU). Karimbaksh has not commented publicly on the allegation.

Kiskadee Watch reported on October 3 that Walrond had broken her silence more than 10 days after being made aware of the rape complaint against Karimbaksh. A police statement followed but did not name the accused officer.

Speaking on the Starting Point podcast, Walrond confirmed that the complainant had given a statement and that Hicken had appointed an investigative team. She said statements would be obtained from relevant persons and Karimbaksh, followed by a formal confrontation.

Walrond expressed support for placing Karimbaksh on administrative leave but said the Police Service Commission was not constituted and she would discuss the matter with Hicken.

The police statement did not identify the investigators, provide a timetable or disclose whether Karimbaksh had been placed on leave. It pledged an impartial investigation and due process.

Confrontation

Walrond’s reference to a confrontation also raised questions about compliance with Section 42 of the Sexual Offences Act, which protects complainants from being required to recount their allegations in the accused’s presence. She did not explain whether the complainant had requested such an encounter.

Walrond said she believed Karimbaksh  should be placed on administrative leave, but pointed to the absence of the PSC and said she would discuss with Hicken how the matter could be addressed. 

The source maintained that police could investigate the complaint and submit the file to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice without waiting for the Commission to be constituted.

“There is no requirement for any constitutional body, other than the DPP, to get involved,” the source said, referring to the criminal investigation and advice on whether charges should be brought.

The question of interdiction would arise if criminal charges were instituted, the source added, arguing that the absence of the Commission should not be presented as an obstacle to investigating the allegations.

Section 41 of the Sexual Offences Act requires police to record and investigate reports of offences under the Act. Within three months of a complaint, a charge must be laid or the investigation file sent to the DPP for advice. 

The source expressed concern about the position of junior officers asked to investigate a Deputy Commissioner and whether they could work free of pressure or perceived bias.

“You can’t have a deputy commissioner being investigated solely by ranks of the Guyana Police Force and call that an independent investigation,” the source said.

Even removing the accused officer from duty would not, by itself, resolve all concerns about the independence of an internal team, the source argued.

As a precedent for outside assistance, the source pointed to the investigation of the rape allegation against former Commissioner of Police, the late Henry Greene, in which Jamaican investigators assisted local police.

Stabroek News reported that, following that investigation, the DPP advised in February 2012 that Greene be charged. Before the charge could be instituted, however, he challenged the advice in the High Court. Then Acting Chief Justice, the late IanChang subsequently quashed it. 

Vacation leave

The source also suggested that accumulated vacation leave could provide a means of removing Karimbaksh from active duty while the investigation proceeds, citing the treatment of former Deputy Commissioner Paul Williams in 2020.

Police announced in August that year that Williams would proceed on 192 days of annualised vacation leave. That was vacation leave, rather than an announced disciplinary suspension. 

On the earlier complaints against Karimbaksh, the source said two female recruits had alleged inappropriate advances and that an investigation commissioned by the PSC led to departmental charges.

According to the source, the Commission obtained legal advice and chose to pursue disciplinary proceedings. Karimbaksh challenged the process in court, interrupting the proceedings, and subsequently appealed after his challenge was dismissed.

The source said the eventual outcome of that appeal and the disciplinary proceedings was not known to them.

Karimbaksh denied those allegations, describing them as “trumped up”. He acknowledged that his court challenge had been dismissed and said it was subject to appeal. 

In December 2022, Stabroek News reported that the legal challenge had stalled the disciplinary matter. The final outcome of those proceedings remains unestablished in the material reviewed for this report. 

The source also disputed the position that the last Police Service Commission’s  three-year term began only when the Public Service Commission chairman joined it in 2023.

The original PSC commissioners were appointed effective May 31, 2022. The source argued that the constitutional terms of appointed members ran from their respective appointment dates, rather than from the later completion of the Commission’s membership. 

The Commission’s composition had already been the subject of litigation. In August 2022, acting Chief Justice Roxane George ruled that it was not properly constituted in the absence of the Public Service Commission chairman, its ex officio member. She nevertheless applied the de facto doctrine to preserve actions already taken. Manniram Prashad became Public Service Commission chairman in July 2023.