–PI to commence June 7

POLITICAL activist Carol Smith-Joseph was on Wednesday granted $10,000 bail on each of the 14 counts of fraud with which she was charged for the alleged theft of $6.1 million from the Mahaica Abary Rice Development Scheme (MARDS) while a member of its Board of Directors.

Smith-Joseph, a member of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), the major political party in the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition, appeared before Magistrate Marisa Mittelholzer at the Mahaicony Magistrate’s Court to answer to the 14 charges, but was not required to plead, since they were all laid indictable.

She was represented by Attorneys-at-Law Roysdale Forde, SC, and Nigel Hughes, who made an application for reasonable bail.

The matter was adjourned until January 11, 2023, for statement and reports, after which the preliminary inquiry will commence on June 7.

According to a release from the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), during the month of March 2022, MARDS, a private rice-milling company, reported a series of fraudulent appropriations of the company’s funds by Smith-Joseph while she was a director.

As a result of that report, SOCU said, it commenced an investigation into the matter, during the course of which it was revealed that Smith-Joseph, without authority, solely approved 14 transactions amounting to G$6,121,108 without the Board’s knowledge and approval between June and August 2016.

“These amounts were used for her personal benefits and other purposes other than that of the Mahaica Abary Rice Development Scheme (MARDS)’s business,” the agency said in its release.

Smith-Joseph, who once served as Petroleum Adviser at the Natural Resources Ministry, is also currently before the court, along with former District Four (Demerara-Mahaica) Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo; former PNCR Chairperson Volda Lawrence; and four others for alleged electoral fraud.

The trio, along with Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) employees Sherfern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Bobb-Cummings and Michelle Miller, are before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court for allegedly defrauding the electors of Guyana by declaring a false account of votes for the 2020 elections.