UPDATE: No proof FID arrested, charged Reid, Pinnock, chief justice rules
Published:Tuesday | December 24, 2019 | 2:23 PM
There is no evidence that the Financial Investigations Division (FID) either arrested or prosecuted anyone in the fraud case involving discarded education minister Ruel Reid and president of Caribbean Maritime University (CMU), Professor Fritz Pinnock, Chief Justice Bryan Sykes reportedly ruled today.
Further, Gleaner sources say Sykes found that “no exceptional circumstances” were raised by attorneys for Reid and Pinnock that would cause the court to question the decision of the director of public prosecutions (DPP) to grant the FID a fiat to prosecute their clients.
Sykes was giving reasons for his Christmas Eve decision to refuse an application by attorneys for Reid and Pinnock for leave to seek judicial review of the decision to arrest them on a slew of fraud-related charges.
The hearing was held in chambers.
He reportedly acknowledged that the grant of a fiat by the DPP is “a power given to her by the Constitution”.
Reid, his wife Sharen, and their daughter Sharelle were arrested, along with Pinnock and councillor for the Brown’s Town division, Kim Brown Lawrence, during a series of coordinated raids in St Andrew, St Catherine, and St Ann in October.
It came after a yearlong probe, led by the FID, into allegations of corruption at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information and several agencies that fall under its remit, including CMU.
However, Reid and Pinnock, through their legal challenge, were seeking to have the charges quashed.
They argued, among other things, that the FID was not empowered by law to bring the charges against them and, therefore, acted illegally.
They further contend that the FID is purely an investigative body and does not have the legal authority to bring criminal charges or obtain a fiat from the DPP to prosecute them.
The five, who were granted bail in October, are scheduled to return to court on January 23, 2020.
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