High court trial for Marlene

FORMER government minister Marlene McDonald will not have a preliminary hearing in the magistrates’ court as the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) intends to bypass that process and file indictments directly in the High Court.

The direction the case will take was revealed when McDonald, her long-time companion Michael Carew, Wayne Anthony, Victor McEachrane and Edgar Zepherine appeared before Chief Magistrate Maria Busby Earle-Caddle at a virtual hearing on Friday.

McDonald, Carew, Anthony, McEachrane, Zephyrine are facing a total of 49 charges of attempting to defraud the government by allegedly procuring funds for Carew’s Calabar Foundation, under the guise that it was a charity. Senior prosecutor Mauricia Joseph told Earle-Caddle the “DPP intends to go straight to indictment for the matter.”

She said the indictments will be filed at the High Court and should be done by late January. There were no objections from either of the five to the position of the DPP for the progress of the case. The five will return to court on January 29 for a status update.

Joseph also said statements have been sworn to. At their first court appearance in September, last year, the State disclosed there will be 22 witnesses in the case, and that number was likely to rise before the eventual start of the matter. Joseph also made arrangements for McEachrane or his attorneys to visit the Fraud Squad office in Port of Spain next Tuesday for the return of certain documents which they say are instrumental to his defence.

McDonald, 62, is facing seven charges—two for conspiracy to defraud, four for misbehaving in public office and one for money laundering. Carew, 73, is facing eight charges-three for conspiracy to defraud and five money laundering.Zepherine, 76, the former chairman of the National Commission for Self Help, is facing 27 money laundering charges and one for conspiracy to defraud. McEachrane is facing three fraud charges and three for money laundering, while Anthony only has one money laundering charge.

Both McEachrane and Anthony are contractors. The offences are alleged to have occurred between 2008 and 2009, but the police investigation only began in 2016.

After she was charged, McDonald was removed as Public Administration Minister and deputy political leader of the PNM. She was also Port-of-Spain South MP but did not screen for the constituency for the 2020 general election. McDonald and Carew are represented by Senior Counsel Pamela Elder and Owen Hinds Jr.

Ian Brooks is representing Zepherine, while Anthony is being represented by Larry Williams and McEachrane by Kenya Murray. Lead investigator Senior Supt Totaram Dookhie and Sgt Cornelius Samuel of the Fraud Squad, who charged the group, were both present at the virtual hearing.