Special Prosecutor’s absence causes case to be dismissed against NBS directors

Sep 13, 2019 News

With bright smiles and big handshakes to their lawyer, three directors of the New Building Society (NBS) left the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts in high spirits yesterday having just had eight counts of wrongful confinement dismissed against them.

The NBS Head Office on Avenue of the Republic

Special Prosecutor Sanjeev Datadin

The directors leaving the court after their case was dismissed

The charges came about after several persons were locked in NBS’s head office on Avenue of the Republic, following a five-hour standoff with High Court marshals. The marshals had moved to levy on NBS assets in a $59M judgment for former Chief Executive Officer, Maurice Arjoon.
Anil Kishun, CEO Anil Beharry and Deka Tularam were on trial before Magistrate Dylon Bess.
They had all denied the charge, which alleged that on January 23, 2018, at the Avenue of the Republic building, they wrongfully confined Ganesh Kalicharan, Goodish Singh, Alex Moore, Joseph Allen, Gina Arjoon, Patrick Higgins, Martin Brown and Ganish Hira, from proceeding out of the building.
With no objections to bail from the Police Prosecutor at that time they were all released on their own recognizance (self bail).
Yesterday when the matter was called, Special Prosecutor Sanjeev Datadin, who was assigned to the case by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), was not present in court.
Even after the doorman to the courtroom called the attorney’s name thrice outside, Datadin was still a no-show. According to defence counsel Nigel Hughes, the court waited in excess of ninety minutes for counsel to appear.
Also several inquiries were made on whether the Prosecutor had informed the Clerk of Court or any other court official about his absence. The inquiries revealed that no such notification had been sent.
The charges against the directors were then dismissed for want of prosecution. It was also noted that this was not the first occasion on which the Special Prosecutor had been absent.
According to reports, on the day in question, the bank closed its doors locking inside several customers, a Court Marshal, lawyer and a police rank, after a team of Court Marshals went to NBS to levy on its assets in a $59M judgment for its former CEO Maurice Arjoon.

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