The Tribune

By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

An ex-banker charged with defrauding Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) of more than $1m has suffered a breach of his constitutional rights because his trial has yet to conclude after almost seven years.

Justice Carla Card-Stubbs, in a February 21, 2025, verdict that does not reflect well on the Bahamian judicial system’s speed, processes and procedures ruled that Reno Bethel’s “right to a fair hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial court” had been breached by the failure to complete a trial that began on June 20, 2018.

And, in ruling against the Attorney General and Commissioner of Police, she ordered that the charges against Mr Bethel will be “stayed” if the trial is not completed and concluded by December 20, 2025. Justice Card-Stubbs found that the case had languished for more than two years, with no effort made to advance it, until prosecutors were “spurred into action” by Mr Bethel’s suit for violating his constitutional rights.

The Tribune’s records show that Mr Bethel, an ex-CIBC Caribbean (Bahamas) employee, was charged on September 4, 2017, following a probe into an alleged fraud ring that cost BPL losses of $1.9m via payment of fictitious invoices to both existing and sham contractors for work that was never performed on the state-owned utility’s behalf.

Mr Bethel, who pleaded not guilty to all counts and charges, was accused of defrauding BPL of more than $1m within a five-month period. He faced 23 counts of fraud by false pretences, 23 counts of receiving, and one count of conspiracy to commit fraud by false pretences.

It was claimed that, between January 27 and May 5, 2017, Mr Bethel $1.034m from BPL’s account at Scotiabank by means of false pretences while employed by CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank (FCIB) at its John F Kennedy Drive branch. It was also alleged that the former CIBC Caribbean employee dishonestly received some $1.426m during the same time period.

No mention was made of BPL in Justice Card-Stubbs’ verdict, although the dates and nature of the charges match those in The Tribune’s report of Mr Bethel’s arraignment. He was then re-arraigned just months later on November 14, 2017, over money laundering offences to which he also pled ‘not guilty’ and was released on bail.

Mr Bethel’s trial began on June 20, 2018, with prosecution witnesses giving evidence and continued for another two days until it was adjourned. It was “called up on several occasions” in 2018, only to suffer further adjournments. It was scheduled to resume on September 13, 2019, with 18 prosecution witnesses present, but was again delayed because one of Mr Bethel’s co-accused was sick while another had no attorney.

The case was rescheduled for February 7, 2020, but again failed to proceed “due to the unavailability” of attorneys representing some of the accused. It was pushed back to August 2020, but then suffered a further delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And, after the courts resumed sitting for trials, the magistrate in charge of Mr Bethel’s case stepped down in February 2021.

With no further progress made, Mr Bethel launched his constitutional rights action on February 24, 2023, seeking relief under the Bahamian constitution’s Article 20 (1). “The Applicant claims that the delay in his trial from 22 June, 2018, breaches his constitutional rights accorded him by virtue of Article 20 (1) which entitles him to a trial within a reasonable time,” Justice Card-Stubbs wrote.

“He further asserts that, by this delay, he has suffered mental, emotional and financial damage. He asserts that he has been unable to find suitable employment and that he lost opportunities presented to him because of the outstanding matter - the unconcluded trial.

“His evidence, by affidavit, is that he has had to deplete his savings and sell some of his real estate to support his family. He also avers that he went into a state of depression and that resulted in the dissolution of his marriage,” the judge continued.

“The applicant avers that he and his family had relocated to Canada in 2016, and claims that he had incurred travel and accommodation expenses of over $50,000 to date to attend court. The Applicant also avers that ‘the Canadian Government cancelled my Electronic Travel Authorisation due to non-completion of my trial’.

“The applicant’s case is that the trial had been pending for over five years (2018 to 2023) and constituted a breach of Article 20. The applicant submitted that the court could find that the applicant’s right was breached even if the court finds that he was not prejudiced by the delay.”

This was disputed by the Attorney General’s Office, which conceded that one of the accused was left without legal representation because they joined its chambers. They argued that Mr Bethel himself did nothing to advance his case, and then the attorney representing him - not identified but likely to have been Wayne Munroe - was elected to Parliament in September 2021.

“The respondent [Attorney General’s Office] further submitted that this matter is a complex one, and that the reasons for the delay stemmed largely from the actions and circumstances surrounding the applicant, his co-accused and their counsel. The respondent submitted that they have managed the Applicant’s case efficiently and to the best of their ability,” Justice Card-Stubbs wrote.

“The respondents further submitted that the applicant has not shown, on a balance of probability, that he had been prejudiced by the delay and can no longer have a fair trial. They also submitted that a stay should only be granted in exceptional cases and should not be imposed if the delay was due to some complexity of the case or caused by the defendant himself.”

Justice Card-Stubbs, in her verdict, agreed that the case was complex because it was based on documentary evidence and involved five accused persons represented by six attorneys. But she added that there was “no suggestion of deliberate delaying strategies” by Mr Bethel or his attorneys, and the onus was on the prosecution to push the trial forward.

“The evidence before me is that by letter dated April 27, 2023, the respondent [Attorney General’s Office] requested that the matter be placed before another magistrate and given a case management date so that the trial could proceed. At the date of hearing, no response had been received,” the judge ruled.

“What has been unexplained is the failure to advance the matter with some urgency since the March 2021 date advanced by the respondent as the relevant date for considering the delay, a proposition which I have rejected. The evidence before me is a letter from the respondent going to the court, subsequent to the date of this current application – some two years after the learned magistrate with carriage of the matter demitted office.

“In the premises, the trial process commenced in 2017 and was brought to a halt by an ‘Act of God’ in 2020. In 2021, the learned magistrate with conduct of the matter demitted office. That is where matters seemed to rest until the respondents were spurred into action by the filing of this suit,” Justice Card-Stubbs found.

“As indicated before, in this case there were a myriad of reasons for the delay including the failure (and/or inability) of counsel for the applicant and for the co-accused to appear or to find an early convenient date. There was the intervening global pandemic and subsequently, the magistrate demitted office.” 

Finding that a six-year plus trial is “unduly long”, Justice Card-Stubbs ruled that “inaction” by the Attorney General’s Office “in advancing the matter to trial” was the cause and found the delay “unreasonable”. But, despite finding that his constitutional rights had been infringed and awarding him $1,000, she declined to halt the trial because there was nothing to suggest Mr Bethel cannot receive a fair hearing.