Case thrown out against former WASA employs, theft charge

Two years after they were charged with stealing and conspiracy to steal close to seventy thousand dollars from the Water and Sewerage Authority, James Castillo, Paul Elliot, Clayton Arzu and Anette Gongora, all former employees of WASA, were today acquitted of all charges by Chief Magistrate, Herbert Lord. According to Lutchman Sooknandan, one of the defense attorneys, a preliminary inquiry was held this morning to see if the case would proceed in the Supreme Court. Sooknandan said shortly after the prosecution presented its evidence, the defense entered a no case submission, citing that there was a lack of evidence to proceed. The magistrate apparently agreed. According to Sooknandan, the prosecution first failed to call its key witness, a Canadian computer expert who first discovered the missing money and secondly, none of the other prosecution witnesses could connect the defendants to the crime. Sooknandan said the reason the case took so long to be resolved is because it went through six different prosecutors before finally being brought to court.