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$80 million housing scam trial postponed

Dec 11, 2012 News

… prosecution witnesses a no show
The case against Ballkarran Lillie and Danica Griffith, the two persons charged with the $80 million house lot scam has been further deferred to January of next year.
Word reaching this newspaper is that the case was postponed given that the file is still with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). Further, the witnesses in the matter are yet to come forward.
Griffith, a 19-year-old clothes vendor from Campbellville; and Lillie, 25, of Lot 26 North East Grove, East Bank Demerara are both facing several fraud related charges stemming from a multi-million-dollar house lots racket.
The matter was initially fixed for trial on November 19 but was put off until November 30 when the prosecution stated that they were still not in possession of the file and requested a new date for the commencement of trial. As such, the matter which is being heard by Magistrate Leron Dailey was fixed for January 7, 2013.
Meanwhile, police are at standstill as it relates to the arrest of the alleged mastermind of the crime. Police have since issued a wanted bulletin for the main suspect who has been identified as Prem Persaud called Prem Rampersaud.
Recent reports suggest that the ringleader of the crime may have fled the jurisdiction. Housing Ministry officials informed Kaieteur News that the Ministry had received what appeared to be credible news that the suspect at large “slipped out of the country using a brother’s passport.”
The sibling reportedly lives in Canada and is said to have a striking resemblance to the suspect.
The two accused made their initial court appearance before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry and were slapped with three charges of obtaining money by false pretense.
According to the charges, the duo acquired an amount totaling over $1 million from Bhena Stanislaus, Latchmie Manbodh, and Ramkumar Rajban as down payment for bogus house lots purporting to show that they were genuinely issued by the Central Housing and Planning Authority.
At this time, police noted that 18 additional charges of the same nature were likely to be instituted against the accused.  To date no additional charges have been tallied against them.
Both Griffith and Lillie were remanded to prison after their first appearance. They were subsequently released on $1.7 million bail each after their attorneys, Rexford Jackson and Paul Fung –A- Fat, made renewed applications for bail.
Before the defendants were permitted to answer to the charges defense counsel Rexford Jackson held that the case against his client (Griffith) is one of a mistaken identity.
Earlier this year, Housing Ministry Authorities uncovered the massive house lot fraud after complaints started to pour in at the Ministry where applicants reported difficulties in obtaining their house lots. Investigations led to the arrest of two accused who were later placed on an identification parade and pointed out to authorities.
They were subsequently charged.

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