A 76-year-old attorney was yesterday granted $75,000 bail after appearing in court charged with defrauding a client.
Wilston Campbell, of Fyzabad, was not called upon to plead to the charge when he stood before Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court yesterday morning.
Campbell is charged with fraudulently converting $132,153, which represents the part proceeds of a land deal.
He is accused of accepting the money from a client for the purchase of a property, but failing to conduct the transaction and repaying the money.
The offence allegedly occurred between August 18, 2014 and April last year.
Dressed in the same shirt and trousers he had on when he was arrested by Fraud Squad detectives at his chambers in San Fernando on Tuesday, Campbell stood silently for the duration of the brief hearing and spoke through his attorney Ian Brooks.
Police prosecutor Insp Winston Dillon did not object to bail for Campbell, but noted that investigators were yet to obtain his criminal record tracing—usually a prerequisite for bail.
Brooks responded by admitting his client had a pending retrial for perverting the course of justice, by attempting to bribe a police officer to assist in having a case against two students caught cheating in CXC examinations in 1995 dismissed.
In 1996, Campbell was found guilty of professional misconduct by the Disciplinary Committee of the Law Association.
The complaint against him was filed in 1987 by a man who had given Campbell $29,500 for the purchase of two pieces of land in Sangre Grande.
Campbell appealed but was rejected by both the Court of Appeal and the Privy Council, who ordered him to repay the money to the client’s estate, as he died while the appeals were still pending.
After granting Campbell bail, Ayers-Caesar adjourned and transferred the case to the San Fernando Magistrates’ Court.
Campbell will reappear in court next Wednesday.
