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Justice Navindra Singh has granted an Order for the forfeiture of US$48,560 and G$1,400 from convicted money launderers on the grounds that monies are proceeds of crime.
The Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) secured the Order, in a judgement handed down on November 13, 2020.
Further, the High Court ordered the State to transfer the currency to the Consolidated Fund as provided for pursuant to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act Cap 10:11. Additionally, the Court ordered the respondents Kevin Gordon and Deon Williams to pay SOCU G$1.5M on or before December 18, 2020.
In a statement issued on Friday, SOCU detailed that at around 08:52h on Sunday, May 28, 2017 the currency was withheld from Gordon during a Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) operation at Parika, East Bank Essequibo. In a haversack belonging to Gordon, CANU Officers found narcotics.
“Kevin Gordon was subsequently charged and convicted for Trafficking in Narcotics,” SOCU reported while noting that when questioned about the large sums of money, the convicted trafficker claimed that it belonged to Williams.
Williams told investigators that the currency belonged to him, explaining that it was derived from the sale of fuel but the evidence proved otherwise.
“The State led evidence that Deon Williams was not licence to deal in petroleum and petroleum products. The Court was satisfied that the penalty for breach of the Guyana Energy Agency Regulation includes imprisonment for three years. The State proved its case on a balance of probability and the court was satisfied that the currency is the proceeds of crime gave judgement in favour of SOCU by ordering confiscation of the cash as part of the proceeds of crime,” SOCU reported.
