Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed arrested over alleged bribe for police CCTV footage
Azruddin Mohamed, Leader of the Opposition, was arrested on allegations he paid $800,000 to a police constable for surveillance footage. His attorney denies any bribe was paid.
Mohamed arrested over alleged CCTV bribe; attorney denies all wrongdoing
The Leader of the Opposition, Azruddin Mohamed, was arrested on allegations that he paid a bribe to obtain surveillance video recordings from the Guyana Police Force's Safe Country Command Centre, newssourcegy.com reports. His attorney, Damien Da Silva, told reporters that his client is innocent.
Mohamed was detained at Eccles on the East Bank of Demerara and taken to Police Force Headquarters at Eve Leary before being transferred to the Kitty Police Station. The arrest came one day after police visited his home and demanded he turn himself in.
He is accused of paying a 20-year-old Police Constable $800,000 for the unauthorized release of CCTV recordings of a shooting incident.
Da Silva disputed those claims, saying Mohamed received the footage from multiple sources — including high-ranking police officers — and had no direct contact with the constable in question.
"I understand that the allegation is that he would have bribed or paid a constable $800,000 for surveillance footage. We know of no such allegation. Mr. Mohamed would have received several videos from several public-spirited citizens including high-ranking police officers," Da Silva said.
The attorney added that the compilation nature of the footage undermined the bribery allegation. "If you observe that video is actually a compilation of several videos, so it is not one video he would have paid to this constable to receive. This was given to him by several high-ranking police officers. We know of no such allegation of paying any constable $800,000. We don't know of it," Da Silva maintained.
The recordings shown by the Opposition Leader at a press conference on Monday depicted events from the night of October 12, 2026, and contradicted the police's earlier account of the incident. The footage also showed Senior Superintendent Prem Narine, Head of the Special Branch, firing at Mohamed's vehicle — a detail Da Silva cited as context for why the videos were of public interest.
The Office of the Leader of the Opposition said in a statement on Tuesday that it would not disclose the identity of the source that supplied the recordings, citing confidentiality. In the days since, Police Commissioner Clifton Hicken has not publicly addressed the content of the footage. The Force has, however, arrested the constable, his mother, and now the Opposition Leader.
Da Silva said he anticipates formal charges and is prepared to defend Mohamed in court. "I anticipate and expect him to be charged. With Mr. Mohamed they usually hold him for 72 hours, but we have to anticipate that he may be put before the Court even tomorrow," he said.
Source: Google News GY — Crime