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Quartet sentenced to four years for $24M in stolen cloth
The eight-year-old case against four men who plotted and stole $24M worth of cloth from Avinash Complex on Water Street came to an end yesterday when the men were sentenced to four years, eight months jail time.
Deoroop Sugrim of La Bonne Intention (LBI), East Coast Demerara, Dinesh Singh of Essequibo, Kumar Kalladin of Campbellville , and Dennis Ramkarran, of Kitty, faced Magistrate Judy Latchman at the Sparendaam Magistrates’ Court for the offence of larceny by clerk or servant.
The men were found guilty of the charge that between February 3 and February 24, 2004, at La Bonne Intention, East Coast Demerara, they stole 1,549 bolts of cloth valued at $24,052,120 property of Avinash Complex, one of the many stores owned and operated by prominent businessman Malcolm Panday.
At the time of the theft, Sugrim was employed as a senior supervisor at the store; Kalladin and Ramkarran were senior persons in the store’s warehouse, while Singh was the driver.
The four men conspired amongst themselves to steal the material and to resell it; keeping the proceeds for themselves. The information said that Sugrim, the most senior of the four men, stole keys from the business place’s main office and made duplicates of those used to open Avinash’s warehouse located at La Bonne Intention.
Sugrim returned the original keys and used the copies to enter the LBI bond. After removing the 1,549 bolts of cloth, the four men loaded the items onto a canter truck and transported it to the city. By the men’s own admission via caution statements, the stolen articles were divided and transported to different locations.
Singh, Sugrim and Kalladin, the court heard, played a more integral part in the theft, while Ramkarran was fingered as the ‘lookout man’, ensuring that the coast was clear while they committed the act.
The men were however caught when a potential buyer made contact with Panday informing him that, ‘some men were selling large quantities of cloth and it was suspected that it was his property.” The store owner contacted the police and they made their way to Zeeburg where Kalladin was caught red- handed attempting to sell the items. He was arrested and after being grilled by investigators, his accomplices were soon caught.
The case was first called in 2004 and was thrown out on several occasions. At one point the matter was suspended by an order of the High Court.
The matter had been dragging along as attorneys for the accused sought several adjournments forcing the matter to be placed before various Magistrates.
Magistrate Latchman who presided over the matter called the actions of the accused “crafty, schemey and malicious.” This was after Attorney-at-law Euclin Gomes pleaded for leniency for his clients. The lawyer asked the court to take into consideration the length of time the matter was before the courts, that the men remained in the jurisdiction during the eight years, and that prior to the offence, they had unblemished records.
The court however found that beyond reasonable doubt, the men were guilty of the offence. She said that she refused to believe that threats, which the men claimed, were made against them by Panday.
She said the evidence showed that the men who had 47 years of service amongst them, carefully plotted and executed their plan to “thief” their boss’s items, while their employer obviously had certain levels of trust in them, thus placing some of the accused at senior levels in his firm.
When Superintendent Fazil Karimbaksh closed the case about three weeks ago, he asked the court to find a Prima Facie case against the accused. He said that the defence had not discredited the evidence led against the accused.
The special prosecutor also condemned the request by Gomes for additional time to have witnesses for the defence show in court. The accused were given almost a month to present the numerous persons they said would have testified on their behalf. The men claimed yesterday that the witnesses were unwilling to testify, citing that the matter was several years old.
The accused thus asked for a further adjournment in the matter so that they could attempt to persuade their witnesses. The court however denied the request and sentenced Singh and Sugrim, the two accused who were present in court, to 56 months behind bars.
Presently, arrest warrants are out for the other two accused.
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