( L - R ) Spencer, Chin

Former state minister, 33-year-old Kern Spencer, wants disclosures into the circumstances surrounding the award of a multimillion-dollar government contract to his former co-accused Rodney Chin while he was facing criminal charges.

Attorney-at-law Patrick Atkinson told the Constitutional Court yesterday that that was one of the disclosures Spencer is seeking.

He said Spencer wanted to know the circumstances under which Chin gave a statement as a Crown witness while they were facing charges stemming from their involvement in the multimillion-dollar Cuban light-bulb scandal.

Spencer has taken the director of public prosecutions to court in an effort to get the disclosures. He wants to know if there was any nexus between the contract and the statement Chin, 45, gave as a witness.

Spencer's contention is that his constitutional rights to a fair trial will be breached if he is not given the disclosures.

He is seeking declarations from the Constitutional Court com-prising Justice Kay Beckford, Justice Horace Marsh and Justice Raymouth King.

Atkinson submitted yesterday that Spencer had said in his affidavit that in November last year while Chin was an accused, he was seen with Transport Minister Mike Henry on television getting a government contract.

Spencer wants to know if the award of the contract had anything to do with Chin's decision to become a witness and the subsequent dropping of the charges against him. He also wants to know if any offer, promise or inducement was made to Chin for him to give the statement.

Atkinson also referred to Chin's statement in which he said Spencer told him that if former Minister of Finance Dr Omar Davies asked him anything in relation to their dealings, he should not tell him anything. Chin also said in the statement that he fronted businesses for Spencer but he did not benefit from them.

In response, Deputy Solicitor General Lackston Robinson submitted that Spencer was on a fishing expedition. He argued that under the Contractor General's Act, the DPP had nothing to do with the awarding of government contracts. He argued that the application for disclosure could have been made in the resident magistrate's court because the resident magistrate was empow-ered to hear the application. He said disclosure must be based on material relevant to the case and the claimant, Spencer, did not know what he was seeking to have disclosed.

Robinson said the DPP had disclosed all material and information in her possession and had already stated that it was Chin's lawyer, Richard Small, who approached her and said Chin wanted to be a witness for the prosecution.

Spencer was arrested and charged in February last year and his case has been set to start on June 22 for two weeks in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court. He is charged jointly with 27-year-old Colleen Wright, his former assistant.

The charges range from conspiracy to defraud, money laundering and breaches of the Corruption Prevention Act.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com