FORMER Public Service Minister Dr. Jennifer Westford was instructed yesterday to return to court on November 12, after her fourth court appearance in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

Westford is currently facing four charges of attempted larceny before City Magistrate Fabayo Azore.

The former minister was placed on a total of $800,000 bail after she pleaded not guilty to the charges. The charges alleged that between July 17, 2014 and June 23, 2015, she attempted to transfer eight state vehicles to four persons, namely her husband Gary Beaton, Osbert McPherson, Wayne Walker and Delroy Lewis.

Westford’s former Chief Personnel Officer, Margaret Cummings, was also slapped with four counts of forgery. Cummings also pleaded not guilty to four charges which alleged that she forged documents for the purchase of the eight motor vehicles. She has been released on a total of $1.2M bail.
Yesterday’s court appearance was scheduled for the defendants’ attorney, Neil Boston, to make an application to have the matter stayed indefinitely for the abuse of process. Boston was supposed to make a submission to prove his case, but the attorney instead requested another adjournment date to address the court.

Police Prosecutor Corporal Bharrat Mangru had no objection to his request, and it was granted by Magistrate Azore.
So far, Westford and Cummings have been served with statements in relation to the matter.

Westford is the first high-profile member of the former government to face corruption-related charges.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of the Presidency had filed an official complaint to the police in late July after finding more than $120M missing from the bank accounts of the ministry.
Investigators reportedly stumbled subsequently on more than $400M missing from the bank accounts. The police after being entrusted with the matter dispatched a special team to the Ministry of the Presidency to examine records of the payments.
Several staffers as well as the former Minister of Public Service and her ex-assistant Margaret Cummings were questioned during the probe.
Investigators had initially looked at 2014 transactions at the ministry but went back to 2012. The monies were transferred from the Office of the President and were to be used for training workers in the various regions. However, there was no evidence that the regions were in receipt of any money.