Judge rules Stanford unfit for trial

A United States federal judge has ordered disgraced financier Allen Stanford to remain in federal custody while undergoing treatment for drug addiction and further evaluation of his competence to stand trial.

On Wednesday, US District Judge David Hittner ruled that Stanford cannot be tried until he undergoes detoxification from addictions to medications he's received in jail.

He recommended the govern-ment send Stanford to a federal Bureau of Prisons medical facility.

Hittner also admonished prosecutors and defence attorneys to "diligently prepare this case to proceed to trial".

Stanford and other officers of his Houston-based Stanford Financial Group are accused of defrauding investors of US$7 billion in a scheme based largely on certi-ficates of deposit issued by his Antigua-based Stanford Inter-national Bank.

Stanford's trial had been scheduled to begin this week, but it was delayed after the January 6 hearing in which attorneys debated his ability to assist in his defence.

Three psychiatrists, including one hired by the government, testified then that Stanford takes heavy doses of anti-anxiety and antidepressant drugs that render him incompetent to stand trial.

Defence attorneys had requested mental evaluations after Stanford was injured in a September 2009 altercation with a fellow inmate at a detention center in Conroe.

Stanford has been held without bail as a flight risk since he was indicted in June 2009.

- CMC