State challenges High Court injunction blocking Leroy Parris prosecution
The State has filed a Court of Appeal challenge to overturn a permanent injunction halting the criminal trial of former CLICO chairman Leroy Parris over alleged theft of $3.3m.
State takes Parris prosecution battle to Court of Appeal
The State has moved to revive criminal proceedings against former CLICO Life Insurance Company chairman Leroy Parris, filing a challenge in the Court of Appeal this week against a High Court injunction that prevents the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) from pursuing the case. Barbados Today reports that Deputy Solicitor General Marsha Lougheed filed the appeal on Wednesday, asking the court to overturn a permanent injunction granted last month by High Court Justice Michelle Weekes.
Justice Weekes had ruled in favour of Parris' application for judicial review, quashing Magistrate Manila Renee's earlier decision to commit him to stand trial. Her judgment also prohibited the magistrate from forwarding case documents to the DPP and the registrar of the Supreme Court, and granted a restraining injunction barring the DPP from proceeding with the indictment.
Appeal arguments: no mala fides, no exceptional circumstances
Senior Counsel Roger Forde, representing the three appellants — Magistrate Renee, the Attorney General, and the DPP — argues that established case law sets a high bar for blocking a prosecution. According to the court filings, Forde contends that a DPP cannot be prevented from prosecuting anyone unless there is evidence of mala fides or exceptional circumstances.
Forde argued that Parris' affidavit evidence in these proceedings discloses neither. He said Justice Weekes misdirected herself and erred in law by finding that the former insurance executive had a cause of action against the DPP sufficient to warrant such a ruling. The senior counsel further maintained there was no evidence to support a finding that Parris held a constitutional right not to face prosecution on the alleged criminal charges, nor any basis for the injunction protecting him.
A case stretching back to 2012
Prosecutors first charged Parris in 2012. The allegations centre on the theft of $3.33 million from CLICO International Life Insurance Limited between December 1, 2008, and April 27, 2009. The State accuses him of conspiring to defraud CLICO by inducing the company to transfer the funds to lawyers Thompson and Associates.
Additional charges allege that between April 1, 2009, and March 31, 2010, Parris conspired to cheat the Commissioner of Inland Revenue by failing to submit tax returns or account for income taxes for the 2009 tax year. Prosecutors also allege that he engaged in money laundering involving the same $3.3 million during the period from December 1, 2008, to April 27, 2009.
Judicial review halts committal
In 2023, Magistrate Renee sought to send the case to the High Court. Parris, represented by Senior Counsel Hal Gollop and Neil Marshall, responded by filing an application for judicial review and obtaining an injunction that halted the indictment. Renee, the Attorney General and the DPP were named as respondents in that suit.
Last month's ruling by Justice Weekes extended that protection further, issuing a permanent injunction and quashing the magistrate's committal decision outright by way of certiorari. The State's Court of Appeal challenge now seeks to undo that ruling and clear the way for the prosecution to proceed.
CLICO International Life Insurance Limited, formerly one of the region's largest insurance providers, collapsed amid a broader Caribbean-wide CLICO financial crisis that caused significant losses to policyholders across the region.
Source: Barbados Today