THE over $600M fraud charges was on Friday dismissed against former Public Service Minister Dr. Jennifer Westford, and her Personnel Manager Margaret Cummings by Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman who noted that the charges were “bad in law.”

The women were charged with stealing $639,420,000 belonging to the Government of Guyana, which they allegedly received by virtue of employment between the period of October 19, 2011 and April 28, 2015, while being employed with the former Public Service Ministry.

It is also alleged that between 2011 and 2015, Westford signed 24 memoranda amounting to $639,420,000 and sent them to the permanent secretary at the Office of the President to be signed and approved. The money was said to have been requested for activities to be conducted in the 10 administrative regions.

According to court facts, Westford was employed as Minister of Public Service from 2001-2015, while her co-accused was the principal personnel officer of the Ministry. Cummings was also in charge of the Ministry’s accounts department.

The Magistrate on Friday ruled in favor of a no-case submission made by defence attorney Dexter Todd, since the prosecutor, Natasha Backer had failed to establish her case against his client. A total of 48 witnesses were called during the trial.

However, the magistrate in her ruling noted that there was evidence that Cummings collected the money and took it to Westford since her name was on the cheques but not her signature.

Additionally there was no evidence to prove that the funds were not used for their intended purpose. She also noted that although there was evidence in the form of 24 memoranda, which were signed by Dr. Westford which proved that she requested the sum during the period of 2011-2015, there was no evidence that the money was unlawfully taken by the two women, hence the matter being discharged against them.

Speaking with the media after her freedom, Dr. Westford noted that she did not believe that she had done anything wrong while serving as a Government Minister and was innocent of the charges.

The two women are currently before Senior Magistrate Fabayo Azore in relation to charges of alleged attempted larceny and forgery of documents relating to the purchase of eight state vehicles
In August 2015, the former minister was placed on a total of $800,000 bail after she pleaded not guilty to the charges, which state that between July 17, 2014 and June 23, 2015, she attempted to transfer eight state-owned vehicles to four persons.

Westford’s former aid, 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 was also released on a total of $1.2M bail.