Fraud charges dismissed against suspended PSC Chairman

Fraud charges dismissed against suspended PSC Chairman

Fraud charges against former Director of the Guyana Power and Light, Carvil Duncan were dismissed on Wednesday due to the prosecution’s failure to produce evidence that support claims of theft.

City Magistrate Leron Daly ruled that based on a lack of evidence, the prosecution failed to make a prima facie case against Duncan and the case was dropped when it came up before her in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.

Duncan was charged and taken before the court last year after it was discovered by auditors that he paid himself close to $1M and allegedly conspired with former Deputy Chief Executive Officer (DCEO) of GPL, Aeshwar Deonarine, for an unapproved transfer of approximately $27M into the latter’s personal account.

Speaking to the media after the brief hearing, Duncan said that he was relieved. He further stated that he is confident that the second charge of conspiring with the former senior GPL official to steal $27,757,500 will be dismissed as well.

Duncan’s Attorney, Charles Ramson said he was particularly proud about the victory in this case, claiming that the charge was political and should never have been instituted.

“Many people doubted the soundness of my argument vis a vis deposits being the property of the bank and not the property of GPL but my arguments are based in law and not street corner gaffs and social media commentators, “ Ramson said.

He believes the decision took longer than expected but is satisfied that it got there in the end.

Duncan is still facing conspiracy charges.

To this end, Ramson said “some people never learn or as we say in Guyana easy lesson hard fuh dunce.”

Duncan was recently suspended from the Public Service Commission and several other constitutional bodies by President David Granger.

His suspension remains in effect pending the outcome of the proceedings of the Tribunal that was appointed several week prior to carry out an investigation.

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