THE Trial into the multimillion-dollar fraud case against Kern Spencer, former junior minister in the Ministry of Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce and his two co-accused, Colleen Wright and Rodney Chin was yesterday adjourned until Thursday, September 18. The matter was put off because one of Chin's lawyers was off the island.

Attorney-at-law Heron Dale, who along with fellow attorney Richard Small is representing Chin, asked the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court to push back the case until Thursday as Small was currently overseas. He said Small would be back in the island by that date, allowing the defence to prepare relevant documents for the case to proceed.

Cuban light bulb

Spencer, Wright and Chin, are accused of conspiracy to defraud and breaches of the Money Laundering and Corruption Prevention Acts. The charges, brought against them last February, 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 donated by Cuba.

The contract for the distribution of the bulbs did not go to tender as is required by law. Instead, Spencer is accused of awarding it to Universal Management and Development Company (UMD) an entity owned by Chin which was set up around the same time the bulb distribution project began.

Spencer has since 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.