Jamaica’s former Education Minister Ruel Reid and former Caribbean Maritime University President Fritz Pinnock and co-accused, are to appear in court on April 3, pending the outcome of a judicial review.
Reid, Pinnock, Reid’s wife Sharen, their daughter Sharelle, and Jamaica Labour Party Councillor for the Brown’s Town Division Kim Brown Lawrence all appeared in court.
They have been charged with a range of offences, including breaches of the Corruption Prevention Act, conspiracy to defraud, misconduct in a public office at common law and breaches of the Proceeds of Crime Act.
The new mention date was set on Monday when the matter was called up in the Kingston and St. Andrew Parish Court.
After Senior Parish Judge Jacqueline Wilcott emphasized that it was preferable to have them return after the court review, attorneys for the Financial Investigations Division (FID) and the five accused agreed on the date.
The hearing for the review is set for February 6 and 7.
The Supreme Court will review a court ruling that Reid and the co-accused have a case to answer for their alleged corrupt activities.
Last February, Chief Parish Judge Chester Crooks ruled that the accused, who are charged in a multimillion-dollar fraud case, had a case to answer in response to Reid and Pinnock’s objection that the charges against them should be nullified because the FID, which leveled the charges, had no legal authority to arrest or charge them.
Reid and Pinnock challenged the ruling after Crooks claimed he was recusing himself from the trial due to a perceived conflict of interest and sought judicial review. The issue was then discovered to be related to the judge’s presence at Munro College while Reid was head boy.
According to Justice Wilcott, an April date will provide all parties enough time to prepare following the judicial review outcome.
Reid and the co-accused were arrested in 2019 after investigators alleged that nearly $50 million of public funds were diverted to the personal use of Ruel Reid and CMU President Professor Fritz Pinnock through a number of schemes, including one that mirrors the Career Advancement Programme-Youth Employment Solutions.
Reid is also alleged to have instructed Professor Pinnock, among other things, to hire his wife Sharen Reid who was manager of legal affairs at CMU.
Reid’s wife and daughter, Sharelle Reid, who graduated from CMU, were also said to have access to over $1 million on a debit card that was connected to an account at CMU.
The domestic helper of the Reid family, Doreen Miller, was caught in the midst of the scandal earlier this year but said the family used her as a pawn to conduct their criminal activities. She was not among those who were probed and charged by the Major Organised Crime And Anti-Corruption Agency, MOCA.
The Councillor for the Brown’s Town Division in St. Ann, Kim Brown-Lawrence, , was investigated and accused of being awarded a contract from CMU without actually aiding or providing services to the university.
