Forfeiture hearing for five Manchester convicts postponed again
MANCHESTER, Jamaica— The forfeiture hearing for Sanja Elliott and his four co-accused who were sentenced on July 27 in the Manchester Municipal Corporation fraud trial has again been postponed.
The hearing has been delayed to November 6 in the Manchester Circuit Court.
When the matter was called up this morning Elliott’s wife, TashaGaye Goulbourne-Elliott, who got a non-custodial sentence, appeared before Presiding Judge John Tyme.
The court was told by the wife of former secretary manager and acting CEO of the municipal corporation David Harris that she sought legal aid for her husband.
She further told the court that the lawyer is in quarantine as she recently returned from overseas.
Norman Godrey, who is the attorney representing the Elliotts and carpenter/ gardener Dwayne Sibbles, was curious as to whether the hearing required legal aid.
“I’m not sure these proceedings attract legal aid,” he said.
Former temporary works overseer Kendale Roberts is being represented by attorney-at-law Samoi Campbell.
The matter which was first called up on September 16 had initially been postponed to October 1.
The Financial Investigations Division (FID) is seeking to forfeit assets of the convicts based on the Proceeds of Crime Act which defines a criminal lifestyle, following what is considered to be the largest fraud case of a municipal authority in Jamaica.
Sanja Elliott, who is now serving five years’ imprisonment was described as the ‘ringmaster’ in the fraud case.
His co-accused, David Harris, is serving 16 months in prison at hard labour; Kendale Roberts is serving 18 months at hard labour; Dwayne Sibbles is serving 12 months imprisonment at hard labour on the count of conspiracy to defraud; and TashaGaye Goulbourne-Elliott had been fined $3 million.
All five were initially convicted on May 15.
The closely watched 11-month fraud trial has triggered widespread debate about the confines of the law in dealing with corruption.
Those freed at the end of the trial were Sanja Elliott’s mother and father, Myrtle and Edwardo Elliott, and former commercial bank teller Radcliffe McLean.
Kasey Williams
