Sept. 18, 2006 – Jurors began deliberating Monday the fate of former Sen. Alicia Hansen and two businessmen accused of corruption and other charges.
Federal prosecutors said Hansen helped contractor Ashley Andrews and accountant Campbell Malone get $25,000 from the V.I. Legislature in 2002 for consulting work the men never completed in exchange for a $1,000 campaign contribution.
Andrews and Malone are also accused of obtaining a $3.6 million no-bid contract for St. Croix sewer repair through their ties to Ohanio Harris, a former aide to Gov. Charles Turnbull.
Harris pleaded guilty to conspiracy and conflict of interest in July.
Hansen's husband, Esdel Hansen, worked with Andrews and Malone and was initially indicted with the men. But District Court Judge James Giles, who is presiding over the trial, threw out charges against the former Public Works Department employee in July.
The sewer work in St. Croix was to fulfill a 1984 consent decree with the U.S. government. Sewage regularly pilled into the streets of the island until, in 2001, a federal judge ordered the Virgin Islands to set up a trust fund to pay for the repairs.
Turnbull then gave Andrews' and Malone's company, Global Resources Management, the contract for repairs without bids from other companies.
When Turnbull voided the contract before authorizing work to begin, Andrews and Malone allegedly filed false claims for work they'd already done.
One part of the claim seeking government compensation listed GRM employees working more than 24 hours in a
single day.
Andrews' attorney, Stephen Brusch, said such claims were mistakes and not evidence of criminal intent.
The territorial government never paid the claim.
Prosecutors allege a host of other misfilings by Andrews and Malone, including allegedly falsifying asset statements while seeking a bond to insure their work.
Both men stood trial in July but the jury was unable to reach a verdict.
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