Lawyer calls for public apology on behalf of Nigerian student

The Bank of Nova Scotia and the Criminal Inves­tigation Department (CID) of the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF) have come in for heavy criticism from lawyer Grant Connell, who will soon make a written request for a public apology on behalf of one of his clients.

Connell’s ridicule came on Tuesday outside the Serious Offences Court, after deception charges against his client, {{more}}Nigerian medical student Uyi Great Osunde, were officially discontinued.

“It is indeed unfortunate; one would have thought that thorough checks would have been made before an alarm was raised. This was a very serious allegation, ramifications of which have no boundaries,” said Connell on Tuesday.

Osunde was charged with dishonestly obtaining EC$10,000 in cash by deception from the Bank of Nova Scotia on December 16, 2015 and was placed on EC$12,000 bail and barred from leaving the state.

However, in a statement issued on February 8, the bank said that their accusation was not sustainable and as a result, on February 25, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Colin Williams issued a formal notice that he was abandoning the case.

Connell stated that the fact that the bank involved the police so quickly “added insult to injury, given some of the officers’ proven lack of ability to solve crimes. They charged Mr Osunde within 36 hours of his being arrested and although he co-operated with them, gave an explanation of what happened and maintained his innocence, the police still approached the matter in a most brutish manner.”

The outspoken lawyer said that given what was said to the Nigerian at the police station, he is of the opinion that other factors contributed to him being charged with such haste.

“His school was not even contacted to get a history of the young man, to see if such an incident was out of character. The journey, which the money Mr Osunde deposited on the 16th December 2015 at the ABM took, still remains a mystery. Clearly the Bank erred,” said Connell.

He stated that early in February, the defence team conducted its own test on the machine, using the same number of bills in the same machine Osunde used on December 15, 2015. According to Connell, although the machine had difficulty accepting the deposit, it eventually accepted the envelope.

“We were only waiting for the case to collapse and so it did,” stressed Connell, who revealed that by a February 24th letter, he made a request to the bank for disclosure of security camera footage, the journal roll, a crystal report, the bank officer clearing the ABM machine on the date in question and gave notice of the intention of the defence to ask to court to visit the locus to verify certain issues in the case.

“I have communicated with the bank since the DPP issued the nolle prosequi in this matter; for this he must be commended. Without doubt, we would demand a public apology from the bank and the police. Scotia Bank is a reputable institution, led by an experienced manager. I trust they would do the honourable thing. The remaining issues I’m certain will be addressed without delay,” said Connell.

On Wednesday, country manager at Scotiabank Fitzaudy Wright said that he has not yet heard from Connell in relation to the lawyer’s and Osunde’s next move.

In relation to the incident, Wright commented, “At Scotiabank we are vigilant in looking out for red flags that may indicate unusual activity, as we seek to protect our customers. In this case, the circumstances raised questions and we moved immediately to notify the authorities, based on information in hand.

“Our processes do require a thorough internal investigation and on doing that, we realized that his version of the events were accurate. We were proactive in contacting the authorities with this information and we have been cooperative throughout the operation.

“We recognize that the circumstances may have caused him distress and embarrassment and we regret this and we have already conveyed this to him through his representative,” said the country manager.(LC)