THE two Supreme Court clerks who were arrested last week, on suspicion that they had been operating a thriving divorce racket out of the Civil Registry of the High Court, have been charged with breaching the Corruption Prevention Act.

They are Hugh Forbes, said to be in his 20s, and Lourie-Ann Williams, 34.

Forbes has been charged with two counts, while Williams was slapped with one count of breaches of the Corruption Prevention Act.

Both, who have been working with the Supreme Court for a total of 13 years, are to appear in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court today.

The two, who are in a common-law relationship, were arrested last week Wednesday. A number of documents pertaining to divorce were allegedly found at their Port Royal, Kingston home during a search by the police, according to Superintendent Fitz Bailey of the Organised Crime Investigation Division.

Both accused are suspected of filing and pushing through divorce petitions for a fees ranging from $32,000 to $45,000, which they then pocketed.

Bailey had told the Observer last Thursday that the clerks would file divorce petitions under the names of unsuspecting lawyers, effectively taking advantage of the change in the system that allows for the granting of a divorce by a judge without a hearing, and without the presence of a lawyer of the parties seeking the divorce, after reviewing documents presented by a clerk in a case file.

Williams was held at a fast-food restaurant along King Street, a stone's throw from the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston, after allegedly collecting $20,000 from an undercover cop to whom she had offered the 'divorce service'. Her co-accused was arrested at the Supreme Court after allegedly taking $20,000 from another undercover cop over a period of time to put through a divorce, said Bailey.

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