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Appeal Court sets date to hear case filed by convicted Registrar of Deeds

Feb 10, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – The Guyana Court of Appeal has set March 2, 2021, as the tentative date to hear the case filed by Registrar of Deeds, Azeena Baksh, who is seeking to have her conviction for fraud overturned.
Former Deeds Registrar, Baksh, who was charged in 2017 for procuring over $4M by false pretense, was yesterday found guilty of the offence and spared jailed time, but ordered to reimburse the state $4,534,480. Baksh had expressed her dissatisfaction with the ruling and turned to Appeal Court, asking that the decision of the Magistrate Leron Daly, “be wholly reversed, set aside and/or discharged.”
During a further Case Management Conference (CMC) held at the Appeal Court yesterday, Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Justices of Appeal, Dawn Gregory-Barnes and Rishi Persaud, set timelines for the filing of documents in the matter which is set to commence in March. In her ruling, Magistrate Daly found that there was sufficient evidence against Baksh.
According to the particulars of the charge, Baksh, while being a member of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) between May 1, 2014 and January 31, 2017, with intent to defraud, caused or procured valuable securities to the sum of $4,534,480 to be delivered to her Bank of Nova Scotia Account #281469; or to her own use and benefit by falsely pretending she was a contracted employee of the Deeds and Commercial Registry Authority.
The allegations outlined that Baksh did this knowing that she was a pensionable employee, having been appointed by the JSC.
The claim further outlined that the Registrar unlawfully paid herself a higher salary than was approved by the JSC for period between 2014 and 2017.
However in defence of Baksh, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, had released a statement last September in which he contended that the decision to charge Ms. Baksh was a politically driven one by his predecessor, Basil Williams.
Nandlall said that Baksh was charged for simply receiving her salary from the Deeds and Commercial Registry Authority, which authorized the transfer of all staff from the Deeds Registry and converted them into employees of the Authority, inclusive of the Registrar of Deeds. He lamented that there is nothing wrong with a person being appointed by one agency and paid by another.
Nandlall also noted that Baksh’s resumption to duties as Registrar of Deeds was under review, her conviction is the subject of an appeal and if it were to be squashed or set aside by a Court, then the Board of the Deeds and Commercial Registry will address the issue of her resumption. Despite that, he said that she remains the Registrar of Deeds because she was not “disappointed” by the JSC.

 

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