Viewers remember 43-year-old Ivan Ayuso. He became one of the first public officials charged with criminal wrongdoing, which was allegedly committed under the Barrow Administration. He was accused of laundering over a million dollars in public funds.
As we reported, Ayuso used to be employed at the National Sports Council as a senior pay clerk. In an audit investigation conducted by the now-retired Auditor-General and her team, they concluded that he allegedly diverted over 400 thousand dollars into his personal accounts at three different banks.
It was a significant loss at the Sports Council's expense, but according to his attorney, who spoke to the press last year, he was charged with money laundering for allegedly diverting 1.09 million dollars from the public purse.
This morning, he returned to court for an adjournment of his case, and that's when he was greeted with a big box of documents from the Financial Intelligence Unit. The court informed him that this was full disclosure of all the evidence that the state, via the FIU, intends to use against him to prove their money laundering case against him.
The next step, in this case, is the preliminary inquiry, which will begin on August 19. That's the review that Senior Magistrate Aretha Ford will conduct. She will determine whether or not the prosecution has proven that there is enough evidence against Ayuso for a full Supreme Court Trial.
The Prosecutor in the case is Janelle Thomas-Sharp of the Financial Intelligence Unit. In court today, Ayuso was represented by Senior Counsel Ellis Arnold.
