Essequibo resident fined $150,000 for being in possession of 265 gallons of illegal fuel Akbar Mohamed of Charity, Essequibo Coast was on  September 20, 2011 found guilty by the Charity Magistrate’s Court for being in possession of illegal petroleum. He was ordered to pay a fine of $150,000.
Mohamed was charged by the Guyana Energy Agency in March, 2010 for being in possession of illegal petroleum contrary to section 5B(10) of the Guyana Energy Agency Act.

Particulars of the offence reads:
The defendant on the 23rd September, 2009 at Lot 10 New Road Charity, Essequibo Coast in the Essequibo Magisterial District, had in his possession 265 gallons of illegal petroleum, to wit, diesel wherein the marker was below the proportion determined by the Minister.
The case was tried at the Charity Magistrate’s Court by Her Worship, Magistrate Faith McGusty. Trial started on  April 8, 2010.
The prosecution led three witnesses.
The defence made a no case submission after the prosecution closed its case and on August 16, 2011 after listening to arguments by Mr. Gino Persaud, Attorney-at-Law for the prosecution, in response to the no case submissions, the Magistrate overruled the no case submission and found that the prosecution had established a prima facie case. The court ordered the defendant to lead a defence. This was done and after closing arguments the Magistrate adjourned the matter for decision.
On September 20, 2011 at the Charity Magistrate’s Court, the Magistrate handed down her decision in favour of the prosecution ruling that the defendant was guilty of possession of illegal petroleum. She ordered a fine of $150,000.
The defendant was represented by Mr. L. Dindyal of Essequibo.
The case was prosecuted by Mr. Gino Peter Persaud, Attorney-at-Law who was brought in as a Special Prosecutor by the GEA.
In an invited comment, Gino Persaud said it’s a small but much needed victory and it’s a step forward for the GEA who, at the time they retained him, had emphasised the need for success in the courts because all of their cases were being dismissed for various reasons and they had no convictions.
“I accepted the challenge since I have always felt it is a privilege to prosecute for the State and having had several successes prosecuting for the Customs (Guyana Revenue Authority), I felt more could be done in terms of the quality of the GEA prosecutions and I was pleased to accept the challenge,” Persaud said.
“Once the client is happy, I am satisfied and the CEO of the GEA, Mr. Mahender Sharma is pleased with the result,” he added.
According to Persaud, Sharma even sent him a note thanking him for his “sustained commitment” to the case and “I thought that was pretty decent of him”.
“I joked at the time that it was sustained commitment to the speed boat rides as opposed to the case itself,” the Special Prosecutor said.
“I think success in court is a good moral boost for the hard working men and women in the enforcement arm of the GEA who do the field work; the investigations; prepare the file for prosecution; and testify in court; to see their effort going the distance. It’s a credit to them really,” he stated.