May 31, 2006 – Jurors began deliberating Wednesday the fate of two men accused of using political connections to illegally secure a $3.6 million sewer contract, then billing the V.I. government for work they weren't authorized to do.
Ashley Andrews and Campbell Malone, president and accountant of Global Resources Management, face wire fraud, making fraudulent claims against the government and conspiracy charges in their three-week-long federal trial. Andrews was also charged with program fraud and inducing conflict of interest.
Prosecutors, during closing arguments Tuesday, said Andrews formed Global Resources with Ohanio Harris, a former aide to Gov. Charles W. Turnbull. Harris hid his connection to Global Resource Management while advocating the company receive a no-bid contract to repair St. Croix's ailing sewer system.
Harris pleaded guilty to conspiracy and conflict of interest charges days before the trial started.
"You can't serve two masters, and that's precisely what Ohanio Harris did," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Nelson Jones.
When Turnbull voided the contract before authorizing work to begin, Andrews and Malone allegedly filed false claims for work they'd already done.
"Unless you have a notice to proceed, that contract isn't worth the paper it's printed on," Jones said. "They had no work crews. They had no employees to dig the earth. They had no equipment."
One part of the claim seeking government compensation listed Global Resource Management employees working more than 24 hours in a single day.
The V.I. government never paid the claim.
Andrews and Malone also allegedly filed false asset statements while seeking a bond to insure their work – reporting more than $100,000 in assets. Prosecutors said the company actually had an account balance that varied between $7 and $5,000.
They also allegedly falsely claimed to have 10 employees, 20 work crews and contracts for other building projects, including the new Peebles Hospital in Tortola.
Attorneys for Andrews and Malone said GRM had been in negotiations to help with the hospital construction and had planned to hire work crews with startup money from the sewer contract.
"The government case is contradictory and inconsistent and fails to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt," said Andrews' attorney, Stephen Brusch.
Brusch said Andrews had planned to use the sewer contract to "share the wealth" by helping subcontractors on St. Croix, bolstering the island's weak economy.
During closing arguments Tuesday, Malone's attorney Leonard Francis said: "I ask you to look at the evidence, pick it up, throw it up and ask yourselves, 'Is there more in this mortar than the pistil?"
Also indicted were former V.I. legislator and gubernatorial candidate Alicia Hansen and her husband, former Public Works Department employee Esdel Hansen.
District Court Judge James Giles acquitted Esdel Hansen last week.
Alicia Hansen is scheduled to be tried separately.
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