Ex-NHDT chair acquitted in soil scandal case

(CNS): After deliberating for more than eight hours over a two-day period, a jury of six women and one man found Geoffry William Ebanks not guilty of two corruption charges in relation to material cleared from the National Housing and Development Trust site in North Side that he directed to his own land and used as fill. He was acquitted on Thursday of both counts — breach of trust and conflict of interest — following a two-week trial during which the jury heard that Ebanks had directed the material to his land but said he had done so to help the project stay on track.

When he gave evidence to the court on his own behalf, Ebanks claimed that truck drivers had told him that Beacon Farms was full after just two days of deliveries. The NHDT board, which Ebanks chaired, had decided to send the cleared material to the 65-acre rehabilitation facility in the district.

However, he had told the court that because he thought the farm could not handle any more fill, he directed what could have been around 100 truckloads of the material, including soil, rock and green waste, to his own and his father’s land. He then paid another truck driver thousands of dollars to spread that fill across his own land.

Ebanks said he had informed NHDT Director Julio Ramos that he was taking the material, but he had not formally told the rest of the board because he believed they were aware of what was going on.

The court had also heard during the trial that the heavy equipment operator who spread that material was Johnny Ebanks, the father of Planning Minister Jay Ebanks, who is responsible for the NHDT. Johnny Ebanks had also worked for the Housing Trust for several days driving one of the trucks that was removing the waste from the site before some other members of the board pointed out that this looked bad.