Syed denies catalogue of charges
(CNS): The former president of the UCCI, Hassan Syed, has now denied a catalogue of criminal charges against him arising out of his time as the local university boss between 2006 and 2008. With Amelia Fosuhene from Stenning and Associates now formally representing Syed and having taken legal advice, the Pakistani national denied all 13 charges, which included three counts of theft and ten further counts of fraud and deception related offences.
In addition to a charge of deception for falsely claiming that he had a doctorate degree and securing the university president’s post which requires one, Syed is accused of stealing almost US$350,000 and fraudulently obtaining another $250,000 via a number of methods. The allegations included counts of obtaining money transfers by deception such as false travel expense claims, misuse of the UCCI credit card, the creation and payment of false invoices and time-sheets, as well purchasing a car from Tony’s Toys with a University college of the Cayman Islands (UCCI) cheque and getting a six month salary advance.
Syed, dressed in a dark suit, answered all of the thirteen charges Friday with a clear not guilty plea.
Although the crown prosecutor in the case, Toyin Salako, had been pressing for the former UCCI boss to be tried in March as she said the date was set last May following his extradition from Switzerland, the court heard that during a closed-door hearing this week the date had been vacated and A new date for the hearing is now being sought.
The case was adjourned for another two weeks to be heard once again in chambers for the lawyers to discuss disclosure issues and to find a window of opportunity on this year’s already crammed court docket for the case to be tried.
