Manchester MC Fraud Trial | Lawyers ordered to submit closing arguments via email

Tamara Bailey, Gleaner Writer

The presiding judge in the multimillion-dollar fraud trial involving the Manchester Municipal Corporation has ordered the prosecution and defence to submit their closing submissions via email instead making oral arguments.

Ann-marie Grainger made the decision amid efforts to help reduce the risk of exposure to the coronavirus.

The prosecution was given a Friday, March 20 deadline to file and serve documents, while defence is expected to submit its arguments by Tuesday, March 31. 

Following the submissions, Grainger said she will need six weeks to deliberate before handing down a verdict.

A decision is expected on Friday, May 15.

" I was thinking before this virus that it [ruling] would be April, but with this now and I will need six weeks...it is [in] May."

This morning, members of the media were asked to wait outside until the judge decided who would be allowed inside the courtroom.

"We are asking that members of the public stay away...we are asking members of your family not to come...members of the media are allowed in but everyone else is asked to stay away," the judge said, noting that having persons in close proximity is a risk factor in the spread of the virus.  

"I don't know how concerned you are but I am concerned. Being in close contact, breathing in each other's air, in this enclosed space with the air conditioning...the less we are together in a space like this, with this horrible virus, the better."

On trial are former acting secretary manager and director of finance, David Harris, former superintendent of roads and works, Sanjay Elliot, temporary works overseer Kendale Roberts and bank teller Radcliffe McLean.

Also on trial are Elliot’s wife, Tasha-Gaye Goulbourne Elliott, and his mother Mrytle Elliott, and his former employee Dwayne Sibbles.

Elliot’s father Edwardo was on trial but freed in January following a no-case submission.

It is being alleged that between January 1, 2014 and June 24, 2016, McLean conspired with Elliott and Sibbles to process fraudulent cheques drawn on the accounts of the municipal corporation.

Investigators have told the court that the massive fraud has amounted to $400 million.

Initially, investigators reported that they had uncovered just over $95 million.

Elliott, Sibbles, Roberts, and Harris were arrested and charged between 2016 and 2017 after investigations unearthed a grand conspiracy and fraud at the local government authority.

The other accused were subsequently arrested and later charged.

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