-Nandlall
Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) appointed-prosecutor in the Buddy’s fuel smuggling case, Anil Nandlall says that he intends to appeal the decision in the matter and has already filed a notice of appeal in the High Court.
Nandlall, however, said that he had not yet submitted the grounds for the appeal as he was awaiting the written decision of the Magistrate and would do so as soon as he is in receipt of it. Stabroek News understands that Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry, who heard the matter, is on leave and is expected back later this month.
Asked recently about this case and others, Prime Minister Sam Hinds told Stabroek News that Government keeps under continual review its prosecutorial capability regarding fuel smuggling with a view to steadily strengthening it and the recently dismissed Buddy’s case was being reviewed by the Attorney General’s Chambers.
Prime Minister Hinds made this statement in response to queries by this newspaper on the fate of a few recently dismissed fuel smuggling cases and on the strength of the Government’s legal fight against fuel smugglers.
Sources told this newspaper that major fuel bust cases in the courts have been overturned due to a focus on the minutiae and not the “meat of the matter.” They said too that the Government wasn’t taking enough of a fight to the fuel smugglers and that the apprehension efforts of the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) are being nullified due to the lack of prosecutorial successes.
Late last month, after more than two years in the courts, the case against the 11 accused in the Buddy’s fuel bust was discharged by Magistrate Sewnarine-Beharry at the Providence Magistrate’s Court. In her ruling, the magistrate had described the case as presented by the prosecution as “water fetched in a basket” and said that it was replete with errors.
Deonarine Singh of 104 Collingswood, Nandy Park, EBD; Wazir Mohamed of 28 North Road, Bourda; Clement Huntley of 39 Wisroc, Linden; Fitzgerald London of 494 Canvas City, Linden; Sanicharran Ramgolam of Number 64 Village, Corentyne; Ceezann Vandelwin of the Pomeroon River; Errol Prince of 43 Garnett Street, Kitty; Joseph Allen of Diamond Squatting Area, EBD; Ramsahai Basdeo of Lot 101 Cornelia New Housing Scheme and Osbern Richards of Supenaam, Essequibo Coast had been jointly charged with possession of fuel at Buddy’s farm at Coverden without the relevant marking in the right proportion and possession of illegal fuel in a quantity exceeding 2,000 litres without a licence.
Businessman Omprakash `Buddy’ Shivraj, on whose property the alleged illegal fuel was found was charged with possession of illegal fuel and storage of illegal fuel. The trial of the ten accused and Shivraj were merged.
The dismissal of the charges brought to an end the saga of what is said to be one of the largest fuel busts locally. On the night of September 27, 2005, the GEA said that acting on information received officials visited Buddy’s Farm at Coverden, East Bank Demerara around 10 pm on that day. When they arrived, the ten defendants were seen offloading fuel from a trawler named Ashley S into drums. A fuel tanker it is alleged was already filled.
Tests were carried out on the said fuel and it was found to be illegal. The men were subsequently arrested and charged. Over 43,000 litres of diesel valued at $6M was seized.
At that stage they had found the Ashley S, registered to Coastline Towing, three tanker trucks, two pick-ups and two pumps. But hours later, the boat and the three tankers disappeared. The disappearance of the trucks and boat sparked a furore and led to Prime Minister Hinds summoning a press conference and promising an exhaustive investigation. The boat was later found not far from Coverden. Its load of fuel had been emptied and its registration mark painted over. Two persons were found on the boat and taken into custody.
The GEA then fired retired Army Major, Hubert Meusa who had headed the fuel-marking programme. He had allegedly abdicated his responsibilities and this led to the unlawful removal of the evidence.
He was charged with obstruction of justice. The court on December 2005 threw out the case for want of prosecution.
The trial of the 11 defendants was hit by delays for various reasons.
