Former Junior Minister in the Ministry of Industry, Technology Energy and Commerce (MITEC), Kern Spencer, and his two co-accused will stand trial on September 15.
Spencer, along with Colleen Wright and businessman Rodney Chin, is accused of conspiracy to defraud and breaches of the Money Laundering and Corruption Prevention acts. The three were told the date when they appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday.
The charges against the accused stem from the Cuban light bulb saga, where it was discovered that it would have cost the Jamaican government well over $270 million to distribute the four million free bulbs.
Bulb distribution
The contracts for the distribution of the bulbs did not go to tender as is required by law, but were awarded by Spencer to Universal Management and Development Company (owned by Chin). An entity that was set up around the same time the bulb distribution project began.
Spencer however defended the move to employ UMD, saying that an "emergency situation" existed as Cuban volunteers were in the island and no provisions had been made for them. He added that due to the emergency he turned to UMD to provide the needed service as he was already familiar with the company.
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