He skipped town before he went on trial but the Director of Public Prosecutions wants to try Hassan El-Sayed, whether he is here or not. El-Sayed is accused of forging more than one hundred passport documents. He was charged along with Gabby Affif but he skipped town last year and his $200,000 bail was forfeited in October.
This morning DPP Kirk Anderson asked Justice Adolph Lucas to allow the case to proceed against El-Sayed in absentia. The problem is that before fleeing, El-Sayed never entered a plea. His lawyers senior counsel Edwin Flowers and Michel Chebat argued that because El-Sayed made no plea, he can't be tried in absentia. Anderson disagrees. He argued that El-Sayed voluntarily left the country.
Lucas will rule next Friday. The passport scandal broke in July 2002. The only person convicted was Therese Cabral who convicted and fined $11,000 for eleven counts of forgery. Next Friday Justice Lucas will also finally set a date for trial. It promises to be long as 34 witnesses are expected to be called.
