Gold dealer gunned down outside Palm Court

Popular businessman, Ricardo Fagundes called ‘Paper Shorts’ was shot and killed execution style outside the Palm Court Nightclub on Main Street late on Sunday night.

Reports are that the gold dealer was shot sometime after 22:00hrs by persons who were in a white car. According persons who passed the scene, the man was shot close to the pedestrian crossing which runs across Main Street in the vicinity of the night spot.

Based on markings made by crime scene investigators at the scene, a number of bullets, as much as a dozen, were pumped into the man and eyewitnesses suggested that high powered rifles were used by the gunmen. The body of the man, who was dressed in white trousers and a red shirt, was lying on the roadway late into Sunday night as investigators combed the scene. A large crowd gathered in the area at the time.

Fagundes is no stranger to the authorities. In 2017, he was hauled before the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) in connection with a multi-million dollar probe involving Bartica gold dealer Saddiqi Rasul. Rasul was being investigated for a $956M fraud in which the large sum was collected from the Bartica branch of the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) by the businessman.

Rasul allegedly encashed some of the cheques involved in the case; many of which bounced at the financial institution.