April 3 trial date set for $222m INSPORTS fraud
Published:Friday | December 1, 2023 | 12:13 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
trial date for April 3 of next year has been set for a judge-alone hearing of the $222-million fraud uncovered at the Institute of Sports (INSPORTS).
The case, which was initially set for mention on January 18 of next year, was yesterday brought forward after the trial window was found. A plea and case management hearing was instead scheduled for that date.
Andrew Wright, former financial controller at INSPORTS, and five former employees implicated in a suspected fraud at the government agency, all had their bail extended to return to court in January.
Wright, the promoter of the French Connection and Chug It parties, is charged along with his co-defendants Rudolph Barnes, Oneil Hope, Jonnique Mills, Andrea Picton, and Sherene Farquharson.
The defendants are accused of being part of a team of former INSPORTS employees who wrote, signed, and cashed fraudulent cheques for payees who were neither employed nor contracted to the agency.
They are charged with various offences, including conspiracy to defraud; acquisition, use, and possession of criminal property; engaging in transactions involving criminal property; and larceny as a servant.
The suspected fraud and other irregularities were detected by INSPORTS in 2017 during an examination of its financial records. The matter was then reported to the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency, triggering an investigation.
In the meantime, the prosecution has disclosed that it intends to rely on 50 witnesses during a three-month trial.
Wright was arrested in April while the Industrial Disputes Tribunal was hearing a wrongful dismissal case he brought against the state-owned agency.
King’s Counsel Peter Champagnie is representing Wright, attorney-at-law Seymour Stewart is representing Hope, and Jacqueline Asher appears for Mills.
Attorney-at-law Xavier Leveridge is representing Picton while his colleagues Steven Jackson and Earl Hamilton are representing Barnes and Farquharson, respectively.