Leave granted to ‘Que Pasa’ lawyers to appeal conviction

A tribunal at a sitting of the Court of Appeal on May 27 granted lawyers for Antonio “Que Pasa” Gellizeau leave to appeal his conviction and sentencing in the largest money laundering case recorded in the OECS.{{more}}

In submitting the application for leave, lawyer Nicole Sylvester said she got involved in the matter in February this year, after Gellizeau had previously been represented by a series of lawyers.

She noted that the time for appealing had elapsed before they were able to file a notice to appeal.

“It should have been filed in August 2013 and unfortunately, it was filed on December 2,” Sylvester said.

Sylvester said following Gellizeau’s conviction and sentencing in July, he “agitated unendingly” through his solicitors to have his notice of appeal filed.

“As a consequence thereof, because it was outside the prescribed time of the Court of Appeal, we had to seek the discretion of the court,” she said.

Gillezeau’s previous lawyers were Shiraz Aziz of the United Kingdom and Mira Commissiong.

Gellizeau was sentenced by the High Court on July 22, 2013 to 10 years imprisonment with hard labour.

He was convicted at the Serious Offences Court on March 9, 2012 for concealing on the yacht “Jotobin” on April 5, 2008, at Calliaqua, US$1,733,463 (EC$4,628,346) and for bringing the money into St Vincent and the Grenadines on the yacht.

According to Sylvester, the matter created a “three prong test”, explaining that the court has to look at the delay, the reasons for the delay and if an injustice would be created to the applicant if the appeal is not heard.

“We said that the delay was inordinately long. We couldn’t get around that and the reasons for the delay were very strong on the basis that our client being incarcerated, there was nothing he could have done to have his appeal filed… He left it all in the hands of solicitors,” Sylvester further submitted.

The respondents, led by Trinidadian senior counsel Gilbert Peterson, strongly opposed the application. Peterson stressed that the point of contention for the delay seemed to be placed at the feet of previous counsel for Gellizeau.

He further impressed upon the court that the applicants had sufficient time and asked the Court of Appeal judges to reject the application for a stay of proceedings.

The judges of the Court of Appeal, which included President of the court Davidson Baptiste, Justice of Appeal Louise Blenman and Justice of Appeal (Ag) Paul Webster also granted the applicants a stay of proceedings in relation to the confiscation hearing, pending the outcome of the appeal matter.

In June 2008, several of Gellizeau’s assets were frozen by order of the court. The assets include bank accounts, Flexible Premium Annuities with CLICO and vehicles which were registered to him, his family members and associates. Assets belonging to Gellizeau and his relatives were also frozen in Trinidad and St Lucia.

The appeal will be heard in October at the next sitting of the Court of Appeal.

Counsel Patina Knights and Mikhal Charles also appeared with Sylvester in the matter.(KW)