Ray John and ex-lover recharged and brought before Magistrate

By Zaya Williams

New charges have been laid against Superintendent of Police Ray John and his former partner Shakema Charles in relation to the passport scam they were allegedly involved in.

The two were freed from all of the criminal charges against them earlier this month when Justice Tunde Backre dismissed the charges  having held that the  law does not allow for conspiracy to be tried by judge alone.

But their victory was short-lived as they were recharged moments ago and brought to the St.John’s Magistrate’s Court.

John and Charles are now jointly accused of conspiring with Vincentian resident Lonzel Jones to create fake passport bio pages using unauthorized Multi-Layered Infilling Sheets.

John, with Charles’ assistance, allegedly sent the necessary documents to Jones through a friend, Lisborn Michael, from the Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda.

However, police intercepted Jones and John’s nephew, Geraldo James, during a transaction involving the final documents.

The defendants, represented by Defense attorneys Hugh Marshall and Michael Archibald,maintained that they were innocent and, therefore, made two attempts to have the case dismissed.

Their no-case submission failed because the judge believed that they had to answer to the charges.

But the second application was a success.