After being on trial for three years, Acting Deeds and Commercial Registrar, Azeena Baksh was today ordered to make a full restitution of $4.5M to the State. This was after being found guilty on a charge which alleged she procured money by false pretense during her tenure at the State entity.
The ruling was handed down by Senior Magistrate Leron Daly in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. Magistrate Daly found Baksh guilty as charged.
Baksh, was however spared jail time as the Magistrate ordered that she make full restitution of $4,534,480 to the State.
She will have to pay the sum of $1M today before leaving the court and the remainder in the next three months.
Baksh, 33, of 343 Eccles, East Bank Demerara had denied the charge which stated that while being a member of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) between May 1, 2014, and January 31, 2017, with intent to defraud, she caused or procured valuable securities to the sum of $4,534,480 to be delivered to her bank of Nova Scotia account #281469; or to her own use and benefit by falsely pretending she was a contracted employee of the Deeds and Commercial Registry Authority.
Baksh is the daughter of Ali Baksh, former Junior Agricultural Minister under the previous administration of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).
According to information, staffers at the Deeds Registry called in the Ministry of Legal Affairs to investigate their complaints of alleged financial improprieties committed by Baksh.
According to the Ministry, the Human Resource and Accounting Departments complained that as Head of the Budget Agency and sole person in authority to approve and sign off the payroll of the Deeds and Commercial Registries Authority and one of the main signatories on the Authority’s Bank Account, the Registrar unlawfully paid herself gratuity.
It was also reported that Baksh did this knowing that she was a pensionable employee, having been appointed by the JSC.
She further alleged to have unlawfully paid herself a higher salary than was approved by the JSC. Those payments started in 2014
and continued up to 2017.
Throughout the trial, Baksh was represented by attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes.
