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Three charged for embezzling $29.8M from GWI’s bank account
Kaieteur News – Three persons were yesterday hauled before a City Magistrate for allegedly embezzling $29.8M from the Guyana Water Inc. (GWI’)s bank account.
The defendants, Shaquille Adams, Shaquille Amid and Anisa Williams, appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
The GWI Vlissengen Road, Georgetown head office.
The charges were laid indictably thus they were not required to plead. The first charge alleges that on March 16, 2021, the defendants forged a document through a wire transfer letter, the sum of US$80,752, which is equivalent to GY$17,489,417, purporting to show same was signed by the director of GWI, knowing same to be forged.
The second charge states that on March 24, 2021, the defendants forged a document through a wire transfer letter, the sum of US$56,910 equivalent to GY$12, 327, 515 purporting to show same was signed by the director of GWI, knowing same to be forged.
The trio was charged for forgery of instrument name evidenced by written law. They were placed on $150,000 bail each and the matter was adjourned to August 17, 2021.
According to reports, the fraud was discovered by the water company’s Finance Department upon reconciling accounts for March 2021. The amounts are $17,489,417 debited on March 16, 2021 and $12,327,515 debited on March 24, 2021. Upon querying, the bank informed GWI that the amounts represent payments made via wire transfer instructions, payable to persons resident in the USA.
The names of the recipients are Troy Robertson of 1405 Brooklyn Avenue, AF2F, New York 11210, and Deyannera Mohamed of 1998 Pacific Street, Brooklyn, NY 11216.
It was reported that both signatures on the wire transfer instruction letters were forged. The company had made it clear that it has never conducted business with the aforementioned persons and at no time initiated, or instructed the bank to carry out the fictitious transactions.
Moreover, police fingerprint experts had confirmed that the signatures were forgeries and the Bank of Guyana (BOG) was also notified of the fraud.
In May, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GWI, Shaik Baksh, had disclosed that the state-owned entity would be moving to recover some $29.8M that was recently discovered missing from its bank account. Baksh made that statement during a press conference at the company’s boardroom located on Vlissengen Road, Georgetown.
On May 21, 2021, the company had announced that a fraud was perpetrated at a commercial bank, which led to millions being removed from its account. Baksh had said, “what has happened is that fraud was committed in a commercial bank, using forged wire transfer documents and our account at that bank was debited.”
GWI had written to the commercial bank to replenish its monies. The CEO had disclosed that while the company will be working on the civil side to recover the monies, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) is working on the criminal side – there has been no update from the company if the stolen monies were recovered.
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