Police charge DSS boss under Proceeds of Crime Act

FOUNDER of Drugs Sou Sou (DSS) Kerron Clarke was charged on Tuesday afternoon with receiving a  television and operating a money-lending business without a licence.

Clarke was granted $300,000 bail by a Justice of the Peace to cover the charges and will appear virtually in court on Thursday. According to the charges, under the Proceeds of Crime Act, Clarke received a television on a date unknown between May 3, 2019 and February 8, 2021, as collateral for a loan the recipient was unable to repay.

He was also charged with receiving $1,850 on a date unknown, between February 9, 2019 and December 3, 2020, as interest received on a loan, while running a moneylender's business without a licence.

The charges came hours after Clarke’s attorneys filed a writ of habeas corpus which sought to compel the State to release or charge him after he was arrested on Saturday.

Clarke has also filed personal charges against police officers alleging that they assaulted him.

On Sunday, Lasana Murray, one of Clarke’s three attorneys, dismissed reports that his client had had a heart attack. On Tuesday, Murray said his client neededspecialist treatment from a cardiologist, as a result of  an alleged assault,

After he was arrested last Saturday, Clarke – a member of the Defence Force – complained of chest and arm pains. He was discharged from the Arima Health Facility around 10.30 am on Sunday, after being admitted on Saturday night. Clarke was reportedly injured during a police search at his home. Murray said on Sunday, his client suffered bruises and soft-tissue damage to the upper part of his body.

Officers assigned to the Financial Intelligence Bureau raided Clarke’s Kathleen Warner Drive, La Horquetta home and DSS office on Saturday. That was the fifth time police had searched Clarke’s home since DSS came under a police probe last year.

Last September, police raided and seized close to $22 million, which was later returned. They later applied to the courts and were given permission to seize $7.7 million in three additional raids.

Last October, Clarke put his operations on hold indefinitely after the court order, pending the outcome of ongoing investigations.