The appeal filed by convicted Registrar of Deeds Azeena Baksh who was last year found guilty of paying herself just over $4.5M, is scheduled to come up before the Guyana Court of Appeal today for a case management conference (CMC).
Almost three years after being charged with fraudulently authorising payments to herself amounting to just over $4.5 million, Baksh was found guilty of the offence last March.
She had denied the charge which stated that while an appointee of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), between May 1st, 2014 and January 31st, 2017, with intent to defraud, she caused or procured valuable securities to the sum of $4,534,480 to be delivered to her bank of Nova Scotia account for her own use and benefit by pretending that she was a contracted employee of the Deeds and Commercial Registries.
At the conclusion of her trial, Magistrate Leron Daly found that based on evidence presented by both the prosecution and defence, there was sufficient evidence which backed the prosecution’s case, thereby finding Baksh guilty as charged.
The magistrate spared Baksh jail time and instead ordered her to make full restitution of $4,534,480 to the state.
In her notice of appeal, however, Baksh (the Appellant) is asking the appellate court to reverse, set aside and/or discharged the magistrate’s ruling and enter judgment in her favour.
Baksh, had been granted three months to pay the money in full; but before leaving court on the day of her conviction, she was ordered to make the first payment of $1,133,621.
