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Dr. Jennifer Westford’s fraud case…Lawyer to apply for matter to be stayed indefinitely
Former Minister of Public Service and Opposition Parliamentarian, Dr Jennifer Westford, made her third court appearance yesterday before Magistrate Fabayo Azore in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
Dr. Jennifer Westford, Former
Minister of Public Service and
PPP Parliamentarian
Margaret Cummings
Westford is currently facing four charges of attempted larceny. She is not alone, her former Chief Personnel Officer, Margaret Cummings, was also slapped with four counts of forgery.
When the matter was called yesterday, Attorney Neil Boston, who is representing the defendants, informed the court that at the next hearing, he will make an application to have the matter stayed indefinitely for the abuse of process.
He is expected to highlight this in his submission when the matter comes up again on October 8.
Westford and Cummings also received statements in the matter.
The former minister was placed on a total of $800,000 bail after she pleaded not guilty to the charges. The charges alleged that between July 17, 2014 and June 23, 2015, she attempted to transfer eight state vehicles to four persons, namely her husband, Gary Beaton, Osbert McPherson, Wayne Walker and Delroy Lewis.
Cummings also pleaded not guilty to four charges which alleged that she forged documents for the purchase of the eight motor vehicles. She was released on a total of $1.2M bail.
Additionally, the police have wrapped up their investigations into a $500M fraud at the Public Service Ministry. The files were handed over to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) last week Monday for advice, according to Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum.
The Ministry of the Presidency had filed an official complaint to the police in late July after finding more than $120M missing from the bank accounts of the Ministry.
Investigators stumbled on more than $400M missing from the ministry’s accounts. The police, whom the matter had been handed over to, had dispatched a special team to the Ministry of the Presidency to examine records of the payments.
Several staffers as well as former Minister of Public Service, Dr. Jennifer Westford, and her ex-assistant, Margaret Cummings, were questioned during the probe.
Investigators had initially looked at 2014 transactions at the Ministry but went back to 2012. The monies were transferred from the Office of the President and were to be used for training workers in the various regions. However, there was no evidence that the regions were in receipt of any money.
As a result the former Minister and her ex-assistant were questioned by police and charged with several counts of attempted larceny and forgery.
Westford is also reportedly being investigated for a recreational vehicle (RV) that was brought into the country but the correct tax was not paid.
Westford is the first high-profile member of the former government to face corruption-related charges. In early June, Minister of State Joseph Harmon, had told the media that it was brought to his attention that some documents were sent to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), purportedly signed by Permanent Secretary of the Public Service Ministry, Hydar Ally.
This was done under Ally’s letterhead, but signed by someone else. “He had no knowledge of this transaction,” Minister Harmon had stressed.
It was Ally who directed Harmon to the discrepancy in the paperwork forwarded to GRA for the transfer of eight vehicles.
In light of the overwhelming evidence, the vehicles were returned to the government.
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