DPP intervenes in Customs fraud case

DEPUTY DPP Carla Brown-Antoine and State attorney Nigel Pilgrim will join attorney Chaitram Bhola in prosecuting in the case against former insurance executive Dennis Davidson and businessman Rene Mar-tinez. When the matter was called before Magistrate David Harris at the Port-of-Spain Third Mag-istrates’ Court yesterday, David-son’s attorney Osbourne Charles SC enquired if Bhola had been “ejected” from prosecuting in the matter and if the DPP was taking over. Bhola was notably absent. Pilgrim indicated that Bhola was “still an active part of the prosecution” and that he (Pilgrim) and Brown-Antoine would assist for the duration of the matter. 

Since the file had only been forwarded to the DPP’s office on Friday, Pilgrim said, the prosecution would need some time to familiarise itself with the particulars of the case before it could proceed. Hearing will resume on April 16. Davidson and Martinez were jointly charged with evading import duties of Customs in the sum of $95,674.69 between August 19 and 20, 1997 at Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain. They were also charged with falsifying a document dated August 15, 1997. The charges were laid by senior Customs officer Anthony Springer. The two, who had then signed admission statements, were each fined $96,000 on August 20, 1997, but had neglected to pay the fines. In an attempt to recover the fines, Davidson and Martinez were charged under Section 246 of the Customs Act.  Martinez is being represented by attorney Ravi Rajcoomar SC.