THE way has been cleared for Bartica gold dealer Saddiqi “Bobby” Rasul to face criminal prosecution with Justice Roxanne George-Wiltshire discharging the order nisi.
Earlier in the year, Rasul was charged with six counts of obtaining money by false pretence after he was fingered in a $956M fraud at the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI).
However, he later moved to the High Court, filing an application for the charges against him to be quashed.

But when the decision was handed down on Tuesday by Justice George-Wiltshire the order nisi was discharged, and Rasul was ordered to pay each of the respondents $25, 000.
The State was represented by Principal Legal Advisor Judy Stuart-Adonis and retired Justice Ian Chang. Tuesday’s ruling means that Magistrate Crystal Lambert is now free to proceed on the charges and Justice Chang is free to prosecute.
When Rasul appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates Court in April, SSS Minerals Trading Enterprise pleaded not guilty to the six charges and requested that bail be granted. He had appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan.

Though the prosecutor had objected, Magistrate McLennan released the 34-year-old businessman on $3M bail. The charges alleged that between March 21 and 22, 2017 at Bartica, with intent to defraud, he obtained the sum of $290M, $298M, $138M, $45M, $89M and $96M from GBTI by falsely pretending he had cash in his account at Citizens Bank to honour the cheques he encashed.
His lawyer Sandil Kissoon explained to the court that his client is being criminalised for the negligence of GBTI, which decided to pay the money without verifying the standard balance of Rasul’s Citizen’s Bank account.
In Kissoon’s application for bail, he explained that his client does not pose a flight risk since he is a prominent businessman in Bartica, who owns several dredges, mining claims and lots.

Police Prosecutor Alvin Moore strongly opposed bail on the ground that the accused is under investigation for similar offences. According to the prosecutor, the police will soon issue a wanted bulletin for a female manager at GBTI.
Bail was granted and the case was transferred to the Bartica Magistrates Court. According to officials, Citizens Bank had closed the accounts of Rasul, after noticing several suspicious transactions in his accounts. At the GBTI Bartica branch, cheques drawn on Citizens Bank and totalling over $900M were deposited in Rasul’s accounts. It is protocol that banks would normally hold other banks cheques until they are cleared, before making payments against them. However, it appears as though this procedure was not followed by GBTI officials.