PORUS, Manchester — Come Thursday, January 30, Parish Court Judge Ann Marie Grainger is expected to return here to deliver her ruling as the Manchester Municipal Corporation fraud trial comes to an end.

The judge will then advise whether or not there is a case to answer to for the eight people who faced the court over the past seven months on charges in connection with an alleged conspiracy to defraud the Manchester municipality, between 2013 and 2016, of sums amounting to about $400 million.

Judge Grainger made the announcement at the close of the Crown's submissions on Friday at the Porus courthouse. The team of prosecutors is asking the court to rule that the defendants have a case to answer. The five-member defence team ended its no-case submission last week.

After hearing evidence from about 40 witnesses and working their way through thousands of pieces of documentary evidence, the prosecution and defence have agreed to drop six of the 32-count indictment, mainly on account of the failure of witnesses to turn up.

These counts affect the main accused Sanja Elliott, former road and works deputy superintendent at the corporation, his wife Tashagaye and his mother Myrtle Elliott.

The other defendants are Elliott's former co-workers David Harris and Kendale Roberts, his father Elwardo, his employee Dwayne Sibblies, and former bank teller Radcliffe McLean.