Chief Magistrate recuses self from hearing former Finance Minister’s misconduct case

The Chief Magistrate announced at the hearing this morning that she has made a decision to remove herself from the matter to allay any concerns of bias.

Chief Magistrate recuses self from hearing former Finance Minister’s misconduct case

Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan has recused herself from presiding over the case currently before the Court against former Finance Minister Winston Jordan who is facing a charge of misconduct in public office, which is linked to the sale of a property by the former Government to the BK company.

The Chief Magistrate announced at the hearing this morning that she has made a decision to remove herself from the matter to allay any concerns of bias.

It was explained that one of Mr. Jordan’s new Attorneys Dawn Holder-Cush is a former Magistrate who is known to the Chief Magistrate.

The matter will now have to be transferred to another Court.

The charge against Jordan is in relation to the sale of wharf facilities to the BK Marine company under the former government.

As the then Finance Minister, Jordan was required to sign the vesting order for the sale, which actually started and had an agreement reached under the previous PPP Civic government.

Jordan has always declared his innocence and has accused the current government of coming up with a trumped-up charge in an effort to silence his regular criticism of the government’s handling of the economy since it took office.

The charge accuses the former Finance Minister of willfully misconducting himself by acting recklessly when he signed the Transfer of Property order for the government’s holding company, NICIL on behalf of the government over the sale of the property.

The government has been claiming that the property was undervalued in its sale.

The government has already started proceedings in the High Court in an effort to reclaim the property but that case is still ongoing.

Senior Counsel and Opposition Member of Parliament Roysdale Forde who is among the Attorneys representing Mr. Jordan said Jordan was never the Minister with responsibility for NICIL and as the Finance Minister it was his job to sign off on vesting orders from the Cabinet.

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