DSS founder returns to court

SUBMISSIONS on whether the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) should have laid summary charges or an indictable information against Drugs Sou Sou (DSS) founder Kerron Clarke are currently engaging the court.

Clarke is on two charges of money laundering contrary to section 45(1)(b) of the Proceeds of Crime Act.

He was charged on February 9 and is in $300,000 bail.

At a hearing on Thursday, Chief Magistrate Maria Busby Earle-Caddle invited submissions relating to the form in which the charges were laid.

It's the State's position that the matter is hybrid, so the prosecution has the power to lay in either form.

A hybrid offence is a crime where the prosecution can decide if they will proceed summarily or by indictment depending on the seriousness of the facts alleged.

Clarke, a member of the Defence Force, was arrested after police executed a search warrant at his home in La Horquetta.

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 that 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.

Last September, police raided and seized close to $22 million, which they 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, and pleaded for the return of his money so he could honour his debts and repay those who invested in his "sou-sou" operation.

He will reappear in court on April 4.