By Jada Loutoo
Copyright newsday
FORMER Island Club Casino director Ingrid Dopson was discharged of 11 fraud charges after more than eight years before the courts, after a ruling by Master Magaret Sookraj-Goswami on September 17.
Dopson, of LP 2 Welcome Road, Cunupia, faced allegations that between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2015, she forged company documents to falsely appoint herself and others as directors of La Soufriere Maritime Company Ltd in Chaguaramas. Prosecutors alleged she removed a bona fide director and gained control of the company’s finances for personal use. She was charged in July 2017 under Section 9(1) of the Forgery Act, Chapter 11:13.
The prosecution, led by Orrin Kerr, failed to file an indictment despite directions issued by the court on January 8, 2025. Dopson’s defence team of attorneys Rajiv Rickhi, Suneesh Singh, Shveta Parasram and Jagdeo Singh before he became Speaker of the House, applied to have all 11 complaints discharged in keeping with Section 24 of the Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act.
Sookraj-Goswami discharged all 11 complaints as the prosecution failed to comply with the court’s directions.
Dopson, who previously served as security manager at Island Club Casino, was accused alongside former casino manager Abbas Khaledi. Khaledi’s case, involving a single charge, remains pending.
According to the summary of evidence filed by the prosecution in the matter, US-based businessman David Migliore, owner of the Island Club Group of Companies, which includes Island Club Casino, La Soufriere Maritime Company Ltd and St James Ltd, reported to police on May 4, 2017, his employees used forged documents to divert company funds and attempted to take ownership of his business, bank accounts, properties and assets while he was incarcerated in the US for tax evasion.
