By PAVEL BAILEY
Tribune Staff Reporter
pbailey@tribunemedia.net
A SCOTIABANK attorney told Adrian Gibson’s criminal trial yesterday that she could not say who ultimately owned the company that transferred a Venice Bay property to him, as prosecutors pressed her on the hallmarks of money laundering.
Yolande Julian, who appeared for the bank on transactions totalling $180,093, said she did not know the beneficial owners of Edwileno Holdings, meaning the people who actually own and control the company, whoever is named on paper. She said she had no reason to “pierce the corporate veil” because she was only tracking a conveyance.
Questioned by Director of Public Prosecutions Cordell Frazier before Senior Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson, Ms Julian agreed that the key features of money laundering include concealing the source of funds, mixing legitimate and illegitimate money, and using multiple shell companies.
Shown documents by the prosecution, she also agreed that $1,279,532.77 was significantly larger than $180,000, and that the smaller sum could not cover the larger one.
Ms Julian said a June 6, 2021 email about the conveyance of the Venice Bay property showed ownership being transferred from Edwileno to Gibson. She said she was given no information that the property was a gift.
She said she could not say what Gibson did with the $180,000, and that she knew nothing of any Water and Sewerage Corporation (WSC) contract involving him. She was also unaware of any vehicles bought in the matter. The court has previously heard allegations that proceeds of WSC contracts helped buy vehicles for Gibson and for his car rental business in Long Island.
Prosecutors suggested that Gibson was in debt in 2017 but that by 2021 the debt had been cleared.
Ms Frazier said a property in Ardastra Gardens, which Ms Julian had mentioned in earlier testimony, had nothing to do with the proceedings.
Earlier in the trial, Gibson’s cousin, Rashae Gibson, testified that he was the sole signatory for Edwileno Holdings and the only person with access to its accounts. She was initially charged in the case but became a prosecution witness after the charges against her were dropped. His brother, Lanardo Gibson, testified that Gibson had told him Edwileno was his personal company, intended to hold his assets.
When Ms Julian was first questioned last week by defence attorney Damian Gomez KC, she told the court she had dealt with transactions involving the two properties in 2021.
The defence opened its case last month. Around the same time, prosecutors withdrew 18 charges against Gibson, all counts of receiving, and dropped the case against one co-accused, Peaches Farquharson, entirely.
Gibson still faces 41 charges: one count of making a false declaration, three counts of conspiracy to commit bribery, 12 counts of bribery and 25 counts of money laundering.
The case centres on allegations that contracts awarded during Gibson’s tenure as WSC executive chairman benefited companies linked to him and his associates. He is on trial alongside former WSC general manager Elwood Donaldson Jr, Joan Knowles and Jerome Missick. All have denied wrongdoing.
Gibson pleaded not guilty in 2022. Jurors were selected in May 2023, and the trial has been under way since November 2023.
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