‘A travesty of justice’

Former NSWMA manager wins appeal against corruption conviction

FORMER SPECIAL projects manager at the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), Mark Rodney, is considering legal action against the State after being acquitted of corruption convictions by the Court of Appeal on Thursday.

“A travesty of justice, a most egregious wrong,”was how Rodney described the conviction, telling The Gleaner that he was happy that he has been vindicated.

One of his regrets is that his mother, who came from the United States to give him moral support, did not live to see him being freed of the convictions.

She died of a heart attack in 2017.

Rodney was convicted in 2016 of breaches of the Corruption Prevention Act and breaches of the Proceeds of Crime Act.

On Thursday, his sentence, which amounted to fines totalling $5.6 million, was set aside.

The Crown, which was represented by Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Maxine Jackson, conceded that there was nothing in the evidence which supported the allegations or subsequent convictions by the parish judge.

The Court of Appeal then ruled that the appeal was allowed, conviction quashed and sentences set aside.

Rodney said he was struggling to understand why charges were brought against him when he did nothing wrong.

He pointed out that the case against him dragged on for four years in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court before he was convicted.

While employed to the NSWMA, Rodney was accused of approving and awarding contracts totalling just over $12 million to a company in which he was a shareholder.

It was alleged that he bypassed the tender process and failed to disclose his interest in the company.

However, it was disclosed in the parish court that the contracts all went through a tender process prior to approval by a procurement committee, of which he was not a member.

He said he had also disclosed in writing to the committee that he had an interest in the company and fulfilled all requirements under the law.

The letter was in the hand of the prosecution before his trial, he disclosed.

“Therefore, the decision of the prosecution to prosecute and the further guilty verdict by the parish court is very curious and quite perplexing,” said Rodney.

Rodney, in outlining the challenges he faced, said the company of which he was a shareholder folded because of the charges brought against him.

The Assets Recovery Agency got court orders freezing his assets.

He had young children at the time and his family was also affected, he added.

He bemoaned the fact that although he was on bail prior to his conviction, the parish judge would not give him bail for even 24 hours to access money to pay the fine.

He is grateful to family and friends who assisted to pay the fine so he could be on bail pending his appeal.

Two years after his conviction, the transcript of his trial was not available and Rodney had to write to Chief Justice Bryan Sykes in September 2018 about the issue.

Two months later, the transcript was ready and Rodney said he is grateful for Sykes’ intervention.

Rodney indicated that he intends to sue the State for wrongful prosecution, for the suffering he endured as well as for the handling of the issue by the Assets Recovery Agency.