$2M Fraud Case Could be Dropped Against Former Banker

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – A judge has given the prosecution until the end of the year to conclude a trial of a former banker accused defrauding Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) of almost $2 million.

Justice Carla Card-Stubbs warned that the trial against Reno Bethel would be stayed permanently if the matter isn’t concluded by December 20.

Bethel, through his lawyer Ryszard Humes, filed a constitutional motion, alleging that his right to a trial within a reasonable time had been breached after the matter remained in limbo since 2020.

Bethel and others were charged in 2017 after prosecutors alleged that they were part of a ring that received payment for fake bills sent to BPL.

The trial began in 2018, and the magistrate hearing the matter resigned in 2020.