A woman was yesterday cleared of charges that she stole $7 million through fraud after a city magistrate found that there was insufficient evidence against her.
Sandy Balkaran was charged in December, 2015, with 17 fraud charges alleging that she stole a total of $7 million from her friend, Prakash Mangar, between last year March and April.
During yesterday’s hearing, after the further cross-examination of a witness, the prosecution was ordered to close its case by Magistrate Judy Latchman after it failed to provide a long expected witness.
Subsequent to the prosecution closing its case, Balkaran’s attorney, in her absence, told the court that the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case against her.
It was in light of this that Magistrate Latchman said there was not enough evidence against the defendant and that a prima facie case was not established. As a result, the magistrate said Balkaran would not be called upon to give evidence and the 17 charges against her were dismissed.
