JAMAICA OBSERVER – Entertainer George Nooks has suffered a blow in his lawsuit which he brought against FirstCaribbean International after an employee there reportedly drained his account of $15 million.

Nooks’ setback came as Supreme Court judge Justice Bryan Sykes recently denied his application to strike out the bank’s defence against his lawsuit.

Had Nooks been successful in having the defence struck out, he would have won the case by default.

The entertainer had filed the suit after the money, which was deposited in the account in 2013, went missing.

The bank employee — Abbey-Gaye Thompson from the Half-Way-Tree Branch of the bank — has since been charged with larceny as a servant, forgery, uttering forged documents and falsification of accounts and is currently before the court.

Nooks tried to have the bank’s defence struck out on the following grounds:

* That there are no reasonable grounds for defending the claim;

* That the defence is an abuse of the process of the court; and

* That the mere denial that an employee of the defendant was not acting as servant and/or agent of the defendant does not amount to a defence.

The bank had said in its defence that Nooks and the employee were involved in an intimate relationship and that any money she drew from the account was within the context of this relationship, making it a personal matter. Nooks has, however, denied this.

With Nooks’ application being denied, the matter will proceed to trial.