In August of 2009, the Financial Intelligence Unit got a court order to freeze all bank accounts connected to Dean Fuller and his various companies, principally Omni networks and Fultec Systems. That was a total of 24 different bank accounts spread across five different banks. The FIU did it because Fuller's Omni Networks was the master agent for Moneygram and one of the Moneygram agencies run by the Coye family was implicated in a major money laundering investigation.
In November of last year, the Supreme Court ordered that the freeze should continue because there was a reasonable cause to believe that the accounts in the banks were tainted in relations to the offence of money laundering.
Fuller and two of his companies had been charged with money laundering of approximately 6 million dollars.
In March of this year, the Court of Appeal had set aside the injunction which froze the Omni Networks and Fultec accounts. That was one victory and this morning, Senior Magistrate, Dorothy Flowers accepted an application by the FIU to withdraw all charges.
It means that all the criminal charges against Fuller and his companies have been completely withdrawn by the FIU and according to his attorney Eamon Courtenay, that was done clearly on the basis that they had absolutely no evidence to convict him.
Eamon Courtenay - Attorney
"Well the money laundering, the criminal case is finished. They had civilly as you remember gone after some of his accounts- his bank accounts, his personal accounts, and in March of this year, the Court of appeal removed the freezing order and opened up all those accounts. So since March of this year he has been using his accounts and I think it's important to emphasize that the primary reason that the Court of Appeal was persuaded to lift the freezing order was that the FIU had not presented any evidence that the money in those accounts were the product of some sort of illegal activity. The Court of Appeal had press counsel for the FIU to say well, where is the criminal wrong doing? Where is the criminal action that produce money that is now in Mr. Fuller's account? They were unable to point to a single item of criminality or wrong doing and so the Court of Appeal released the freezing order in relation to all his accounts. We had felt that from that time certainly because we were saying it before but if the court of appeal is telling you that you have no basis which to holds a man's property. We had felt that there would have been influence by the court of appeal judges and realize that the criminal side of things had absolutely no legs to stand on. My understand is that it was private attorneys Antoinette Moore senior counsel and Ms. Pitts who had to prevail on Marilyn Williams to say to her that there is absolutely no evidence because Ms. Williams wanted to continue with the persecution of Mr. Fuller even though she had been advise by counsel who she herself had retain to do this case that there was no evidence. I think that the right decision was eventually taken those who have look at it in an independent way were able to say that this is something that should never have started."
And while Fuller's charges are gone, the charges of money laundering still stand against several members of the Coye family who ran the Moneygram sub agency...
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