KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Five people, including former education minister Ruel Reid and the former president of the Caribbean Maritime University (CM), were told on Friday that they would have a case to answer following the judicial review of their criminal charges.
“The court finds that the claimants have not satisfied the court on a balance of probabilities that the inferior tribunal was biased,” Justice Cresencia Brown-Beckford, said on behalf of the Full Court on Friday.
The Full Court panel of Justices Brown-Beckford, Lisa Palmer-Hamilton, and Tricia Hutchinson-Shelly also ruled that the “court considers that the fair-minded and informed observer, who is also sensible and rational would not, on this evidence of a scant acquaintance, many years ago, reasonably apprehend that the learned CJPC (Chief Parish Court Judge) did not bring an impartial mind to bear on the adjudication of the case.”
Reid and Pinnock had sought a judicial review of Chief Parish Court Judge Chester Crooks’ ruling that they have a case to answer in a multimillion-dollar (One Jamaica dollar=US$0.008 cents)fraud matter.
The two had claimed that the judge should not have ruled in the matter as he had admitted to a conflict of interest.
Reid, Pinnock, Reid’s wife Sharen, their daughter Sharelle, and Jamaica Labour Party Councillor for the Brown’s Town Division Kim Brown Lawrence are implicated in the fraud case.
They were arrested in October 2019 and accused of defrauding the Ministry of Education and the Caribbean Maritime University of nearly J$50 million.
The accused are facing a range of offenses, including breaches of the Corruption Prevention Act, conspiracy to defraud, misconduct in a public office at common law, and breaches of the Proceeds of Crime Act.
In March 2019, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said he had requested and accepted the resignation of Reid, saying it was done in “keeping with the principles of good governance.”
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