ICBL ex-official to make case against extradition

Former insurance executive Alex Tasker is expected to address the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court on Thursday when the extradition case against him continues.

Tasker, a former senior manager at the Insurance Corporation of Barbados Ltd. (ICBL), is before the court as the United States seeks his extradition to stand trial on money laundering charges in the cash-for-coverage scandal involving disgraced ex-minister Donville Inniss.

Prosecutors allege that between August 2015 and April 2016 he conspired with others to launder money in the US from outside the country in violation of US law.

When his matter resumed this afternoon Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes who is hearing the matter completed his response to the submissions previously made by his attorneys Andrew Pilgrim QC and Neville Reid as well as Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale and Senior Crown Counsel Oliver Thomas who are representing the Crown.

It was then that Pilgrim requested that the court issue a summons for former ICBL chief financial officer Kamante Millar to give evidence before the court.

The Queen’s Counsel disclosed that his side had been reliably informed that Millar was in Barbados and “I am duty bound to pursue the issue”.

He added: “We have this key witness whose evidence we haven’t seen and we are being told that she is here in Barbados.”

Pilgrim went on to submit that the court should consider whether Millar should be brought to the sitting as according to him she was the central pillar of the Crown’s case.

Deputy DPP Seale described the request as “an irregular procedure”.

In the end, the Chief Magistrate ruled against the submission saying that the trial court must be the one to deal with Millar’s evidence.