The prosecution in the matter against former members of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) was on Thursday ordered to release the original audit report of the agency made by accountant Nigel Hinds.
This order was made by Magistrate Leron Daly in the matter against former GRDB General Manager Jagnarine Singh, former Deputy Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Agriculture Prema Roopnarine, Agricultural Consultant Madanlall ‘Ricky’ Ramraj, and Member of Parliament Nigel Dharamlall.
The charges against the accused allege that they failed to record entries for funds amounting to over $250 million in the agency’s general ledger.
During Thursday’s court session, Magistrate Daly told the court that based on what she would have read, the court can proceed with the matter despite the High Court proceedings that were filed.
In those proceedings, there has been a dispute as to whether the handover by the prosecution of a redacted copy of the GRDB forensic audit report, which informed the charges, satisfied an order made by Justice Navindra Singh, who had given five days for the document to be produced, failing which the charges against Ramraj would be permanently stayed.
Attorney for the accused, Anil Nandlall, had filed the application for the stay after contending that the prosecution failed to comply with an order made by Magistrate Daly to hand over the audit report to the defence.
Following Daly’s announcement on Thursday that the court could proceed with the matter, Nandlall then requested that the original audit report be presented to the court since the one that they have is heavily altered and not the original. He noted that that report by Hinds was thrown out in the High Court and that the court should do the same.
Subsequent to the attorney’s request, the Magistrate ordered that the prosecution present the original report to the court.
The matter was then adjourned until November 7.
