The Guyana Court of Appeal will today hold a further Case Management Conference (CMC) in an appeal filed by Registrar of Deeds, Azeena Baksh, who is seeking to have her conviction for fraud overturned.
On March 11, 2020, Baksh was found guilty of fraudulently procuring over $4.5 million while being employed by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) between 2014 and 2017.
The charge against her stated that while being employed by the JSC between May 1, 2014, and January 31, 2017, in Georgetown, she caused or procured valuable securities in the sum of $4,534,486 million to be delivered to her Bank of Nova Scotia account for her own use, pretending she was a contracted employee at the Deeds Registry.
The charges were instituted against her in 2017.
Upon her appointment as the Deeds Registrar in 2012, Baksh received a salary of $326,171 monthly, as well as duty, entertainment, and house allowances among many other benefits that were approved by the JSC. But the Legal Affairs Ministry said that she increased her salary to $400,000 in 2014 when the Deeds Registry was merged with the Commercial Registry, without the approval of the JSC.
It was further reported that Baksh – being the sole person with authority to sign off on such documents – approved gratuity to herself and several staff members from the period May 2014 to November 2016.
Following a trial before Magistrate Leron Daly, she was found guilty of the offence. Magistrate Daly ordered that she repay the full sum she fraudulently procured. On the day of her conviction, she was ordered to lodge $1 million and was given three months to repay the balance.
Dissatisfied with the decision of the lower court, Baksh, through her lawyer Nigel Hughes, is asking that the decision of the Magistrate “be wholly revered, set aside and/or discharged.”
The CMC will be presided over by Chancellor of the Judiciary Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Justices of Appeal Dawn Gregory-Barnes and Rishi Persaud.
Despite being convicted, Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC, on Monday evening confirmed that Baksh is still the Registrar of Deeds since her appointment was never rescinded or revoked by the JSC. The tenure of the last JSC expired on September 12, 2017.
The last JSC was appointed by former President Donald Ramotar on September 11, 2014. The tenure of each appointed member is for three years, therefore, the tenure of the last Commission expired on September 12, 2017.
Among other things, the functions of the JSC are to advise the President on the appointment of Judges, except for the Chancellor and the Chief Justice.
The Attorney General has on numerous occasions roasted his predecessor Basil Williams for playing a major role in instituting charges against Baksh.
Nandlall had said, “In my humble view, the decision to charge Baksh was a politically-driven one by my predecessor. Baksh was charged for simply receiving her salary from the Deeds and Commercial Registry Authority, an Authority established by the Deeds and Commercial Registry Authority Act, which authorised the transfer of all staff from the Deeds Registry and converted them into employees of the Authority, inclusive of the Registrar of Deeds.”
