Opposition leader and police constable denied bail over CCTV leak and bribery charges

Azruddin Mohamed and Constable Ryan Greene were remanded to prison after charges tied to leaked police surveillance footage and alleged bribery. Both will remain held until 24 November.

Both accused denied bail at Sparendaam court over surveillance footage scandal

Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed and Police Constable Ryan Greene were remanded to prison on Thursday after being charged in connection with the leak of police CCTV recordings and alleged bribery, newssourcegy.com reports.

The matter was called before Magistrate Abigail Gibbs at the Sparendaam Magistrates' Court late in the afternoon. Media personnel were barred from entering the court to cover the proceedings, with police officers confirming they had been instructed to keep journalists out. The source of that instruction has not been established.

Mohamed is accused of paying $800,000 to Constable Greene in exchange for surveillance video recordings obtained from the Government's Safe Country CCTV system. The footage in question captured an incident on 12 October involving Mohamed and the head of the Special Branch, who fired at the Opposition Leader's vehicle after intercepting it at a traffic light. Mohamed had been accused of driving past the Special Branch head's home twice that same night.

Greene, 20, is accused of downloading the recordings and handing them to Mohamed. Police say he admitted to the offence. Both accused face charges that carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Following the hearing, attorneys for both men emerged expressing sharp criticism of the magistrate's decision to refuse bail.

Senior Counsel Roysdale Force, representing Mohamed, told reporters there was no legal basis for the refusal. "The reason advanced by the Magistrate for the refusal of bail is that Mr. Azruddin Mohamed has been on bail repeatedly and he has been accused of committing other offences," Force said. He argued that the prosecution had failed to establish the core elements of the charge brought under Section 9 of the Cyber Crime Act, which he described as requiring both the obtaining of data and its transfer to another party. Force confirmed that the defence would be moving immediately to the High Court, and potentially the Court of Appeal, to seek bail for Mohamed.

Greene's attorney, Darren Wade, was equally critical, stating he would also pursue a High Court application on his client's behalf.

Earlier in the day, attorney Nigel Hughes had filed a motion for Mohamed's release after his detention neared the 72-hour threshold. That motion was withdrawn once police moved to formally institute the charges.

Both Mohamed and Greene have been remanded to prison until 24 November.

newssourcegy.com further understands that a second police officer, Ashton Chappelle, is under investigation in connection with the same case and may face charges.

Source: Google News GY — Crime