The Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) yesterday withdrew all 19 fraud charges that it had previously instituted against new president Irfaan Ali as it said it would no longer proceed with them.
As a result, Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan declared the conclusion of the matters before her yesterday in Georgetown, while a ruling which was scheduled to be delivered yesterday afternoon by the Court of Appeal to a challenge previously mounted by Ali to the constitutionality of the charges was also not rendered by the appellate court.
Back in 2018, Ali was charged with fraud over the sale of state lands in the ‘Pradoville 2’ Housing Scheme, which he allegedly sold far below market value.