Mayor on 1/2m dollar bail

The Mayor of St. Ann’s Bay, Ivan Anderson, will return to court on February 1 next year after he was granted J$500,000 (US$5,899) bail on Tuesday on a charge of fraud.
Anderson, a member of the People’s National Party (PNP) who insists that he has done nothing wrong, appeared before Senior Resident Magistrate Carolyn Tai in the St Ann’s Bay Resident Magistrate’s Court, where he was offered bail. He was also ordered to surrender his travel documents to the police.
Anderson is alleged to have defrauded a woman of five million dollars (US$58,000) in a real estate deal when he sold property in the central parish of Manchester for eight million (US$9, 000) on behalf of a relative, but failed to turn over five million dollars of the proceeds as agreed.
Last week, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Paula Llewellyn, ruled that the fraud charges be laid against Anderson, the Mayor of the town of St Ann’s Bay just on the outskirts of the tourist resort town of Ocho Rios.
But Anderson in a statement said he is innocent of the allegations and will take leave as mayor and from other positions in the PNP pending the outcome of the matter. (CMC)