Minutes after the Constitutional Court dismissed the motion brought by former state minister, 33-year-old Kern Spencer, seeking full disclosures from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), his lawyers filed an appeal against the ruling.

This latest development could result in an adjournment in Spencer's fraud trial, which is set for Monday. It is expected that an application will be made before the Court of Appeal for the trial to be stayed pending the determination of the appeal.

Spencer had filed a motion against the DPP and the attorney general seeking to ascertain the circumstances under which his former co-accused, 45-year businessman Rodney Chin, had given a statement as a Crown witness while Chin was still an accused.

redress available

The court said that Spencer could make the application in the Resident Magistrate's Court because adequate means of redress were available before the resident magistrate who is to try his case.

Spencer is charged jointly with his 27-year-old former personal assistant, Colleen Wright, in connection with the multimillion-dollar Cuban light-bulb scandal.

Attorneys-at-law Patrick Atkinson, Debra Martin and Sharon Usim represented Spencer. They argued that the former junior minister wanted to know if Chin had been given any offer, promise, or inducement to give the statement. Spencer also wanted to know if the multimillion-dollar government contract, which was awarded to Chin in November, last year, while he was an accused, had anything to do with the statement. Chin said in the statement that Spencer asked him to front businesses for him, but he did not benefit from them.

seeking dismissal

Deputy Solicitor General Lackson Robinson had asked the court to dismiss the motion in which Spencer was seeking declarations that his constitutional rights to a fair trial would be breached if the DPP did not give him full disclosures.

Robinson submitted that the DPP had already given Spencer all statements, information and documents in connection with his case. He argued that adequate means of redress existed in the Resident Magistrate's Court.

Prosecutors Opal Smith and Kerri Ann Kemble also appeared for the DPP.

The Constitutional Court, comprising Miss Justice Kay Beckford, Mr Justice Horace Marsh and Mr Justice Raymouth King, heard legal arguments this week and dismissed the motion. The court has promised to give its reasons in writing.

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. Spencer and Wright are facing charges ranging from conspiracy to defraud, money laundering to breaches of the Corruption Prevention Act.