Appeal Court order halts Magistrate from continuing with Dr. Westford trial
Aug 01, 2017 , http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....h-dr-westford-trial/
Appeal Court Judge, Justice Dawn Gregory, has granted an order staying Senior Magistrate Fabayo Azore from continuing with the trial of Former Minister of Public Service, Dr. Jennifer Westford, and Ms. Margaret Cummings who are charged in relation to eight state vehicles, for which they allegedly forged documents and attempted to transfer to persons.
In August, 2015, the former minister was placed on a total of $800,000 bail after she pleaded not guilty to the charges which alleged that between July 17, 2014 and June 23, 2015, she attempted to transfer eight state vehicles to four persons.
Cummings was also slapped with four counts of forgery which alleged that she forged documents for the purchase of the eight motor vehicles.
She has been released on a total of $1.2M bail.
Kaieteur News understands that the order, which seeks to examine an amnesty for the vehicles announced by Minister of State Joseph Harmon, was granted last week Wednesday.
The order also prevents the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Police from prosecuting Westford and Cummings until the outcome of the Court of Appeal proceedings. This newspaper was reliably informed that the Court of Appeal found that there were some debatable issues as it relates to the amnesty.
Senior Magistrate Azore will apply the Appeal Court order on August 7.
The Court of Appeal order comes months after Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag) Yonette Cummings-Edwards, who was then Chief Justice (ag) quashed a Constitutional Motion which sought to have the trial before Senior Magistrate Azore halted.
That Constitutional Motion was filed by Senior Counsel Neil Boston and Attorney-at-Law Dexter Todd, who are among the battery of lawyers representing the women.
Senior Counsel Neil Boston and Attorney-at-Law Dexter Todd are contending that the nstituting of criminal charges against the former minister and Cummings breaches a Presidential amnesty for the vehicles which was announced by Minister of State, Joseph Harmon during a June 19, 2015 press conference.
The lawyers filed the High Court action after Senior Magistrate Fabayo Azore overruled Boston’s submissions citing “Executive Abuse”. The Senior Counsel had made a request to Senior Magistrate Azore to halt criminal proceedings against his clients.
Boston had stated that Harmon had promised that once the vehicles were returned no prosecution will take place.
According to Boston, Harmon said, “They can quietly bring them (vehicles) back to the Ministry, in which they came from or to the Office of the President (OP). They can park them outside the gate…”
Boston had related that all the vehicles were returned to the then Office of the President and, in spite of the amnesty, his clients were still charged.
However, Senior Magistrate Azore ruled that the statement made by Harmon was ambiguous. She stated that the court is not sure if what the minister said amounts to an amnesty or pardon and signalled her readiness to proceed with trial.
The Magistrate had commenced trial which was at a standstill for months pending the outcome of the High Court matter. And again, the trial has been halted until the conclusion of the Court of Appeal proceedings.
In June, 2015 Minister of State Joseph Harmon, had told the media that it was brought to his attention that some documents were sent to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), purportedly signed by Permanent Secretary of the Public Service Ministry, Hydar Ally.
This was done under Ally’s letterhead, but signed by someone else. “He had no knowledge of this transaction,” Minister Harmon had stressed.
It was Ally who directed Harmon to the discrepancy in the paperwork forwarded to GRA for the transfer of eight vehicles.
In light of the overwhelming evidence, the vehicles were returned to the government.
