Mavado could know this month if he will be allowed to testify remotely.
The lawyer representing Mavado, Oswest Senior-Smith, has revealed that he will have to wait until October 13 to find out whether or not his client will be allowed to testify via video link. The news comes as the JM$30 million fraud case against disbarred attorney-at-law Jennifer Messado continues.
Last Friday, September 30, the case was adjourned after being called up in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court in Half-Way-Tree. Senior-Smith spoke with the Jamaica Observer about the new development and said nothing happened in court last week. He explained that there was an adjournment and that the court indicated that the prosecutor was engaged in another matter in the Home Circuit Court.
Last week, Mavado addressed the reports that there was an outstanding warrant for his arrest. He used Instagram to address his frustrations with the matter as he said that the warrant had suddenly surfaced after four years.
He added that he believed that some officers assigned to the Constant Spring police station, as well as Jennifer Messado and her people, were conspiring against him. He added that the same police officers that locked his son up years ago are also the same ones that suddenly came up with this warrant. He also accused one female officer of being friends with Jennifer Messado.
“Now my people years ago when I left Jamaica, I left things in my lawyers’ hands. My lawyers – both overseas and in Jamaica, were in regular communication with the Jamaica Constabulary Force and there was never any mention of any outstanding warrants, nothing like that was said to my lawyers over a 4 year period. I wasn’t wanted for anything or any reason in Jamaica,” he said in a lengthy statement posted on his Instagram.
Mavado’s attorney, meanwhile, is still waiting for the necessary information from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) about the outstanding warrants. Last July, the ODPP was supposed to submit an application seeking approval from the court for Mavado, who is now a US resident, to give testimony via video link.
The holdback comes as the warrant for his arrest has surfaced, and anyone who has an outstanding warrant cannot give evidence before the courts.
Senior-Smith is confident that it has all been miscommunication and that his client’s testimony is not really critical to the successful prosecution of the case.
He described the issue with Mavado’s testimony as a storm in a teacup as he added that even if there is a warrant that bars Mavado from testifying, he is not a critical witness. So the lawyer and the other party who paid over the money to Messado are the critical witnesses in the case.
Jennifer Messado stands accused of defrauding the entertainer in a real estate deal. According to reports, she allegedly showed Mavado a property at Grosvenor Terrace, Kingston 8, and also started making arrangements to purchase the property through his attorney, Tamika Harris. That was back in April 2018
She also claimed that she had been given permission to oversee the sale as the owner was incarcerated overseas. The “Not Perfect” artist is believed to have paid Messado $30.7 million for the property and signed a sale agreement and a document giving him possession. It was discovered sometime later that the property was not for sale and that the owner was not incarcerated.
