April 11th, 2023 has been set for the commencement of the trial of former minister of Finance Winston Jordan on a charge of misconduct in public office. The Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) brought the charge against Jordan in December 2021.
According to a SOCU press release, the case was called before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly in Court Two of the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court around 10:00 hrs on Friday. At that time, the magistrate said she was “inclined to make a ruling in favour of the defence’s submissions which were previously made by Jordan’s lawyers that he was not a public officer.
However, the prosecution had also previously submitted that the Chief Justice had made a ruling in the case of Brassington and Singh vs the Chief Magistrate in Application 757 of 2018 that Dr Ashni Singh, who was also a Finance Minister, was considered a public officer and that Article 232 of the Constitution of Guyana provides that, a “public officer Means the holder of any public office and includes any person appointed to act in such office inter alia.”
SOCU said the magistrate then stood down the matter for 13:00 hrs to decide whether she would proceed to hear evidence from the prosecution or not.
“At 13:20 hrs,” the release said, “… Magistrate Daly indicated that she would reserve her ruling and take evidence from the prosecution, then make a ruling at the end of the prosecution’s case.” According to the release, this prompted one of the defence attorneys, Ms Cush, to inform the court that the defence would be challenging her ruling in the High Court. The magistrate adjourned the case for 11th April for trial.
