The Buddy’s fuel trial was once again stalled yesterday owing to the absence of the prosecution and the defence has still not laid over their written submissions to the court although they were warned to do so almost two weeks ago.
The magistrate adjourned the matter to October 24 when the defence counsel should be in a position to make their submissions.
When the matter was called yesterday, only defence counsel Glen Hanoman was present and he said that defence counsel Vic Puran was delayed. Special Prosecutor Anil Nandlall also did not make an appearance but another lawyer appeared on his behalf.
Only four of the defendants were in court and Hanoman said that maybe the others had not heard of the new date since they were not in court on the previous occasion.
The matter had been called on Monday and the defence counsel were not present and the matter was adjourned to yesterday morning. It has been over two years since the alleged illegal fuel were discovered in a Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) operation. Previously Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry had said that the defence counsel had been given enough time to prepare their submissions and reprimanded them but they said that they did not understand her handwriting.
Deonarine Singh of 104 Collingswood, Nandy Park, EBD; Wazir Mohamed of 28 North Road, Bourda; Clement Huntley of 39 Wisroc, Linden; Fitzgerald London of 494 Canvas City, Linden; Sanicharran Ramgolam of Number 64 Village, Corentyne; Ceezann Vandelwin of the Pomeroon River; Errol Prince of 43 Garnett Street, Kitty; Joseph Allen of Diamond Squatting Area, EBD; Ramsahai Basdeo of Lot 101 Cornelia New Housing Scheme and Osbern Richards of Supenaam, Essequibo Coast, were jointly charged with possession of fuel without the relevant marking in the right proportion and possession of illegal fuel in a quantity exceeding 2,000 litres without a licence.
The GEA said that acting on information received officials visited the Buddy’s Farm around 10 pm on September 27, 2005. When they arrived, the ten defendants were seen offloading fuel from a trawler named Ashley S into drums. A fuel tanker, it is alleged, was already filled.
Tests were carried out on the said fuel and it was allegedly found to be illegal. The men were subsequently arrested and charged.
The trial of the ten accused and the trial of businessman Omprakash `Buddy’ Shivraj on whose property the alleged illegal fuel was found, have been merged.
Since the trial began, it has been hit by several delays owing to absence of a main witness, the prosecution and the defence counsel.
