Caribbean news. KINGSTOWN, ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES; FRIDAY JUNE 27, 2014 – More new developments are coming to light in the matter concerning former Registrar of the High Court, Tamara Gibson-Marks. Gibson-Marks is under investigation for allegedly embezzling funds from an account of which she is reportedly the only signatory.
Tamara Gibson-Marks
According to a government official who requested anonymity, it was revealed that the delay is due to the Director of Audit completing her report. “The report will and in fact it should reveal the pattern if any of withdrawals, if these withdrawals were authorized or unauthorized, and the period of time the transactions took place.”
He was asked to shed some light on the burning issues of why the former Registrar was allowed to leave. Also is it true that Mrs. Gibson-Marks allegedly purchased a ticket before she reported for her meeting with the Attorney-General.
He said that the Vincentian authorities were unable to detain Mrs. Gibson-Marks due to the flimsiness of the evidence at the time, and it was after checking on reports that she had left the country was the timeline of the discrepancy revealed.
“She will be brought back here to answer to the charges whatever they are that will be brought against her,” the official said. “As soon as the Director of Audit report is received then the Commissioner of Police and the DPP will be able to formulate the appropriate charges.”
“But tell me – was due process followed? Why was she not suspended and her travel documents withheld by a court order, the issues investigated and then whatever charges if any then laid against her? Why did the Attorney-General demand her resignation when she was employed by the Judiciary Commission,” the official was asked.
“I do not know of the processes, but how could you have asked a court to withhold her travel documents based on evidence that was neither here nor there at the time,” the official responded. “What I can say is that it was the bank’s attorney who alerted the Attorney-General on the issue.”
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition Arnhim Eustace has written to Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves asking questions about the sudden resignation last month of Registrar of the High Court, Tamara Gibson-Marks.
Attorney General Judith Jones-Morgan demanded Gibson-Marks’ resignation during a meeting on May 21, and the former registrar left the same day for Saint Lucia.
Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace. Photo courtesy www.sugarcityfm.com
Vincentian Prime Minister Gonsalves has said that the Attorney General, Commissioner of Police, and Director of Audit are involved in an investigation surrounding Gibson-Marks’ resignation.
Additionally the Attorney General has applied to have Tamara Gibson-Marks disbarred from practicing law in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, even as police chief Michael Charles is yet to receive the Director of Audit’s report.
According to Eustace in his letter to Gonsalves said that to use “disbarment proceedings as your starting point, is to put the cart before the horse.
“It is critical that you clear the air on these matters and take the necessary legal action, given the current climate and widely expressed concern about corruption in this country.
The Prime Minister, who is also Minister of Legal Affairs, was asked if Gibson-Marks had submitted “any false court orders … to any bank in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to justify the withdrawal of funds from accounts held at that bank.”
Also if so, how many such false court orders were submitted, and the amount of money withdrawn, how much money was withdrawn, how much, if any, has since been repaid, and whether he can confirm that $130,000 has been repaid.
“In the present circumstances, given the sudden resignation and flight of the Registrar, and the issue of whether there is any allegation of wrong doing on her part, the question of professional disciplinary proceedings (disbarment) being initiated by the Attorney General does nothing to answer the mounting questions being asked by the general public, who quite rightly deserve to see the application of justice with an even hand, in our nation,” Eustace added.
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