Latest update November 5th, 2024 1:00 AM
Oct 01, 2019 News
Special Prosecutor, Patrice Henry, yesterday submitted his response to a no-case submission made in one of the trials for 39-year-old former accountant of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), Peter Ramcharran.
Ramcharran, who is being represented by attorney-at-law, Sase Gunraj, is facing 39 charges of fraudulent conversion and misappropriation, which allegedly took place between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2015. He had pleaded not guilty to all the charges which involved tens of millions of dollars. The total is said to be over $400M.
There are 17 charges of keeping fraudulent accounts, 16 for fraudulent appropriation and five for the falsification of accounts.
The trial for the falsification of accounts is before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. It is in this trial that the attorney made the submission.
In his submission, attorney Gunraj stated that the “prosecution is on shaky ground” as there is no proper case against his client and the prosecution has failed to prove every element of the case during the trial.
He also added that the main witness, Accountant Errol Chester, failed to present sufficient evidence in his testimony that Ramcharran had omitted entries from the General Ledger of GRDB; hence the basis of a no-case was presented.
Special Prosecutor Henry, who is working for the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), reiterated in his written submission four main points.
Firstly, the prosecutor brought back into focus that during the periods mentioned in the charges the defendant was an employee of the GRDB and documents of his employment were presented to the court.
Also, during those periods his duties would have included making entries into the general ledgers of the entity and any omissions from these ledgers would be to his knowledge since he at the time was the person responsible for making the entries.
The prosecutor highlighted that by making the omissions from the ledgers as in accordance with his duties he falsified the accounts hence, the basis of his charges.
The matter was adjourned until October 4, for the magistrate to either rule on whether a Prima Facie case has been made out against the defendant or for elaboration by the prosecution on his submission.
Ramcharran, of 32 Area ‘G’ Goedverwagting, East Coast Demerara, was brought before the court after eluding the hearings for almost two years while in Canada.
Ramcharran had first applied for refugee status. After he was turned down in December, he sought a review of his extradition process but this, too, was turned down. In 2017, the Chief Magistrate had issued an arrest warrant for him.
The GRDB found itself in the spotlight after a forensic audit of that entity revealed a number of “anomalies”, such as loans without proper paperwork or promissory notes.
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