A legal expert in Barbados law may testify at Donville Inniss’ trial.
This was revealed yesterday at a pre-trial hearing in Brooklyn, New York.
The name of the individual and if the person is a Barbadian was not disclosed. What was stated was that as some of Inniss’ charges hinge on Barbados’ laws, a legal expert in such legislation would be brought in by prosecutors.
According to United States prosecutors and court documents, Inniss allegedly engaged in “fraudulent schemes” between August 2015 and April 2016 by leveraging his position as a Cabinet minister in exchange for “approximately US$36 000 in bribes” from the Insurance Corporation of Barbados (ICBL) “in violation of Barbadian law and to launder that money through the US”.
ICBL employees, including then chief executive officer Ingrid Innes, and senior vice president Alex Tasker, allegedly “agreed to pay bribes to Inniss, who in turn agreed to use his official position as Minister of Industry to cause the BIDC (Barbados Industrial and Development Corporation, a state agency) to renew insurance contracts with ICBL)”. The insurance premiums amounted to the equivalent of US$330 734 or BD$661 469. 30.
The Nation also found out that the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) sent a special agent to Barbados to pursue matters related to the case against the former Democratic Labour Party St James South parliamentarian. That individual was in court yesterday and he confirmed that he travelled to Barbados but declined further comment.
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