PRIVATE PROSECUTOR?
FID could engage attorney to work with Crown to pursue case against Reid, co-accused
THERE ARE indications that the corruption charges filed against sacked Education Minister Ruel Reid and his co-accused will be prosecuted by private attorneys and not the prosecutorial arm of the State.
Jamaica’s top prosecutor, Paula Llewellyn, revealed yesterday that even before Reid; his wife, Sharen; daughter, Sharelle; Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) President Professor Fritz Pinnock; and Jamaica Labour Party councillor Kim Brown-Lawrence were arrested in a series of coordinated pre-dawn raids on Wednesday, the agency leading the probe requested a fiat from her office.
A fiat allows private attorneys to associate with the Crown in criminal prosecutions.
Llewellyn disclosed in an interview yesterday that Robin Sykes, chief technical director of the Financial Investigations Division (FID) – one of the agencies involved in the probe – telephoned her on Tuesday afternoon.
She said that it was during this conversation
that she became aware that arrests were imminent but maintained that her office was not asked to provide any guidance.
“Mr Sykes called me and said he is going to be requesting a fiat,” she said, recounting the conversation.
Llewellyn, the director of public prosecutions (DPP), said that she advised the FID boss that a fiat could not be granted at the investigative state of the process.
Since a fiat allows an attorney to associate with the Crown, it can only be granted after the court process has been engaged, Llewellyn advised Sykes.
“That was when he said they would be arrested, and I left it right there,” Llewellyn told The Gleaner.
Several calls to Sykes’ cell phone went unanswered yesterday.
Llewellyn said that up to late yesterday, her office had not received a formal request for the fiat but indicated that she would have no objection to granting it, providing that the FID could demonstrate that the attorney being proposed has the requisite competence to handle a criminal prosecution.
“If an attorney, for example, has 20 years of practice, but all they have done is land law, they would not have the skill set of a prosecutor,” she reasoned.
The DPP explained, too, that her office would also need to peruse a synopsis of the case file “to see what is there”.
“In light of the fact that we had looked at the file and the statements … in these circumstances, they (FID) would need to give us a copy of the case file so I can see what the breadth of the thing is so I can make an assessment, in the public interest, whether we should do it (handle the prosecution),” Llewellyn said.
ALLEGED $56 MILLION FRAUD
Prosecutors alleged in court on Thursday that Reid and Pinnock used a number of schemes, including one that mirrors the Career Advancement Programme-Youth Employment Solution, to divert more than $56 million from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information and CMU for their personal use.
Reid, 53, has been charged with possession of criminal property, conspiracy to defraud, engaging in transaction involving criminal property, misconduct in public office, and corruption.
His wife and daughter, along with Brown-Lawrence, have been charged with possession of criminal property and conspiracy to defraud.
Pinnock has been charged with conspiracy to defraud, engaging in transaction involving criminal property, misconduct in public office, and corruption.