Former leader of the United Workers Party (UWP) in St Lucia Marcus Nicholas has been sentenced to six months in jail for using false documents for tax purposes.
The matter goes back to 2017 when Nicholas was charged with making a false representation for a tax return payment in his girlfriend’s name — and also fraudulently signing the tax letter in her name.
The sentenced was handed down on Monday (April 11) by High Court judge Justice Clarence Thompson who told Nicholas that he should have known better.
Nicholas who represented Dennery North and who won elections in that constituency in 2001 and 2006, took responsibility for his action.
“I am sorry that I put the court and the country in this position,” he told the court.
He began his jail sentence on Tuesday at the Bordelais Correctional Facility in Dennery.
Meanwhile present leader of the party and former prime minister, Allen Chastanet said he was “very sorry” for Nicolas.
“I am very sorry for Marcus,” Chastanet, who is also opposition leader, told reporters on Wednesday when asked about the matter.
“It was a personal thing that he had. At the end of the day we have two different lives – when we’ re in government and then you have one as your personal,” he said.
Nicholas is the second member of the UWP to be jailed by the courts in St Lucia
On November 9, 2021 Marius Wilson, former MP for Micoud North, received a five-year sentence for shooting a man with his license firearm in a public space.
The incident took place on June 7, 2012.
