Daraine Luton, Staff Reporter

TWO WEEKS before Kern Spencer returns to court to answer to fraud and related charges, his constituency executive has called for the release of information which it believes debunks any perceived links between Spencer and the missing light bulbs.

North East St Elizabeth, the constituency which Spencer represents, wants a report prepared by Jean Dixon, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Energy, to be made public.

The report, which the constituency claims was available from January 21, has excerpts from a letter by the Cuban government in which it has claimed responsibility for bulbs that the auditor general had listed as missing.

'Sub judice'

However, Paula Llewellyn, the director of public prosecutions (DPP), told The Gleaner yesterday that "the entire matter in respect to the case brought against these persons, including Mr Spencer, I regard it to be sub judice".

"It is my earnest hope that all well-thinking persons may respect that fact and allow the legal process to go through to completion, uninfluenced by any extraneous factors," the DPP added.

Sub judice means that a particular case or matter is currently before the court and therefore prohibited from public discussion elsewhere. It is a safeguard against influencing the judicial process.

Minister of Energy Clive Mullings, who is an attorney-at-law, has defended his decision to withhold the information.

"I would not want to introduce it for fear that it could prejudice the the case which is before the court," Mullings said yesterday.

Witch-hunt claim

Spencer, a former state minister in the energy ministry, businessman Rodney Chin and Coleen Wright, Spencer's former personal assistant, were arrested in February for their role in the Cuban light-bulb project. The energy-saving project, which racked up $276 million in costs, was reportedly not conducted above board.

In its release yesterday, the constituency executive blasted Mullings for what it called "a witch-hunt and political victimisation" of Spencer.

"Last week, Spencer's People's National Party colleague Michael Peart said in Parliament that the Cubans had claimed responsibility for bulbs that were said to have been missing.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com