Prosecutors formally dropped charges yesterday against two civil servants accused of defrauding the government after a judge refused an adjournment. The fraud trial against Joseph Ferguson of Fresh Creek, Andros, and Patrick Evans of Flax Terrace, Malcolm Allotment, was supposed to begin on Wednesday. However, AG prosecutor Ambrose Armbrister asked Justice Watkins to adjourn the matter because two prosecution witnesses were not available. Armbrister presented a document that ended the proceedings when Justice Watkins refused to delay the proceedings. The case against Ferguson and Evans was discharged. However, new charges can be brought against them. On Tuesday, Chief Counsel Neil Brathwaite stepped down from the case because he knows one of the defendants personally. He asked for the matter to be set down until Thursday, but the judge refused. The men were first arraigned on charges that they defrauded the National Emergency Management Agency in May 2008. Prosecutors decided to bypass a preliminary inquiry in the magistrate's court to speed up the trial process.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian