Spotlight on some fraud related charges

Jun 26, 2022 News

==The Court Journal==

By Renay Sambach

Kaieteur News – Fraud charges are quite common. In fact, fraud-related matters are serious offences and carry jail time and this week, I will share with you some fraud and fraud related charges.
Firstly, fraud is the wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain.

Charged, Khemwattie Ramnauth.

In this article, I will highlight some common fraud charges, penalties and some related court matters. According to the Criminal Law Offence Act, there are multiple types of fraud charges that indicate the depth of the offence. Those offences are false pretense, fraudulent conversion and falsification of accounts.
FALSE PRETENSE
False pretense is one of the most prevalent fraud offences. The law outlines, “Everyone who, by any false pretense, obtains from any other person any chattel, money, or valuable security, with intent to defraud, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and liable to imprisonment for three years: provided that if, on the trial of any person indicted for that misdemeanour, it is proved that he obtained the property in question in any manner amounting in law to larceny, he shall not by reason thereof be entitled to be acquitted of the misdemeanour, and no one tried for the misdemeanour shall be liable to be afterward prosecuted for larceny upon the same facts.”
In April 2021, former policeman, Paul Watson of Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo was charged for obtaining $420,000 under the pretense that he was in a position to obtain a firearm licence for an individual.
He had appeared in the Diamond/Grove Magistrate’s Court before Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman.
After it was alleged during the month of February 2021 that Watson collected $420,000 under the pretense, he was charged and placed on bail in the sum of $100,000, for the offence. Notably, the police force had reported that Watson was previously charged for a matter of similar nature.
In another matter, 47-year-old Khemwattie Ramnauth who was pardoned by former President, David Granger, in 2017 for serving a sentence on fraud-related charges, found herself back before the court in October 2021, for allegedly obtaining money under false pretense.
Ramnauth of Lot 51 Public Road, Grove, East Bank Demerara, made her appearance in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Magistrate Dylon Bess to answer to the charges of forgery and obtaining money under false pretense.

Paul Watson.

The first charge states that between February 20, 2020 and August 24, 2020, with the intent to defraud, Ramnauth obtained from Brain Perriera the sum of $6,500,000 by falsely pretending that her name was Latchmin Shiwmangal, the registered owner of a property situated at Block XXX Zone, East Bank Demerara parcel 1107, part of South Ruimveldt, Greater Georgetown and that she was in the position to sell it to him knowing same to be false.
The second charge alleges that between February 20, 2020, and October 5, 2021, with the intent to defraud, she forged one United States of America Passport #454099867 in the name of Shirley Shiwmangal with a picture bearing her likeness and purporting to show that same was issued by the United States Department of State, knowing same to be forged.
The court heard that the businesswoman is known to the police and that she was convicted in 2015 for a similar offence and was granted pardoned by the former President in 2017. She was granted bail to the tune of $3 million.
FRAUDULENT CONVERSION

Micah Sonaram.

Fraudulent Conversion is the action of taking into possession another man’s money or property and converting or using it fraudulently for one’s own use and benefit.
Twenty-four-year-old Micah Sonaram of Lot 2273 Flying Fish Street, North Ruimveldt, Georgetown, appeared in court on multiple occasions before different magistrates after he was charged with fraudulent conversion.

According to reports, Sonaram is facing multiple charges that are similar in nature. He reportedly defrauded several persons using his social media business page, Parts Zone Gy, which advertised that he ships parts and machinery.
One of the allegations state that on November 4, 2020, at North Road, Georgetown, while being solely entrusted with $7 million by Steve DeCosta to purchase and deliver one excavator, he fraudulently converted the money to his own use and benefit.
Prior to that, he was slapped with two fraud charges, which allege that he defrauded persons of over $11 million. Additionally, during December 2020, he was charged for defrauding a businessman of $4.5 million and in 2017, he was charged for defrauding another man of over $5.8 million.
Notably, Sonaram was never convicted on any of his previous charges.
FALSIFICATION OF ACCOUNTS
According to the Criminal Law Offences Act: “Anyone who, being an officer, clerk or servant or being employed for the purpose or in the capacity of an officer, clerk or servant, willfully and with intent to defraud— (a) destroys, alters, mutilates, or falsifies any book, paper, writing, valuable security, document, or account belonging to or in the possession of his employer, or received by him for or on behalf of his employer; or (b) makes, or concurs in making, any false entry in, or omits or alters, or concurs in omitting or altering, any material particular from or in, any book, paper, writing, valuable security, document, or account aforesaid, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and liable to imprisonment for seven years.”

Peter Ramcharran.

One of the most popular stories of falsification of accounts is that of Peter Ramcharran of Goedverwagting, East Coast Demerara, a former Accountant of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB). During February 2020, Ramcharran was found guilty of the offence and he was convicted for omitting $145M from the GRDB ledger.
Ramcharran was sentenced to three years imprisonment for one of the five falsifications of account charges. His sentence was handed down by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan. In handing down her ruling, the Chief Magistrate underscored that she is of the view that Ramcharran intended to willfully deprive the entity of the monies with his unlawful action.
Ramcharran’s three-year conviction was one of the first major convictions for the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), an arm of the Guyana Police Force. However, weeks after he was sentenced, his lawyer filed an appeal against the conviction and Ramcharran was released on $2M High Court bail.
According to reports, he was slapped with 39 fraud-related charges. The charges that were levelled against him alleged that he fraudulently converted and misappropriated funds.
The offences, according to SOCU, took place between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2015, at the GRDB’s Lot 16-17 Cowan Street, Kingston, Georgetown headquarters.
(If you wish to share court related information with me please contact me via: email: [email protected] or phone number: + 1(592) 694-1862)