GPF remains the lawful agency to conduct investigations – AG

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mohabir Anil Nandlall, SC, has said the Guyana Police Force (GPF) remains the sole lawful authority for conducting investigations in the country.

Speaking during his weekly programme, ‘Issues in the News’, Tuesday evening, Minister Nandlall said, “The Guyana Police Force is the lawful, authorised agency to conduct investigations in Guyana.”

As part of ongoing efforts to strengthen investigative capacity, the government has contracted a distinguished and experienced Canadian crime investigator to assist the GPF in Adriana Younge’s case.

The eleven-year-old was discovered dead last month in the pool of the Double Day Hotel along the West Coast of Demerara after going missing from relatives. The ordeal has prompted national concern and calls for a thorough probe.

However, the AG cautioned against outsourcing the core responsibilities of local law enforcement to external entities.

“If it is that every time persons are affected by a death or a death assumes the type of attention that this one has assumed the government has to import law enforcement agencies, what will that do to the morale of the Guyana Police Force?

Every family would then think that they are entitled to their particular case being investigated by a law enforcement agency other than the Guyana Police Force,” he stated.

The Police Act (16:01) empowers the Guyana Police Force to be the primary agency responsible for the “apprehension of offenders and the due enforcement of all laws and regulations”.

The principle of national sovereignty generally bars other law enforcement agencies from assuming authority over enforcement or investigations in other countries, as each country has exclusive authority over its laws within its territory.

Minister Nandlall also dismissed the unfounded criticisms against the government’s handling of the matter, defending the actions taken to date.

“There are a set of people in this country…who will never be satisfied with anything this government does. They will always use any opportunity they get, as they are doing now with this unfortunate tragedy, to score as much political mileage as possible,” the attorney general pointed out.

He also dismissed the narrative being peddled that justice is lacking under the current administration, referencing the Henry Boys and Courtney Crum-Ewing cases, both of which have resulted in charges and committal to stand trial in the High Court.

“Apparently, if somebody from the People’s Progressive Party is not implicated or not charged, then it is an unsolved murder and there is no justice,” Nandlall noted.

Since Younge’s death, President Ali has fulfilled several of his commitments to the family and the country, including the securing of three independent pathologists to conduct a forensic post-mortem examination to determine her cause of death.

More recently, the government secured the services of a qualified retired member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Leonard McCoshen.

He has begun work in assisting the Guyana Police Force with the investigations yesterday.