3 former Medi-Care Pharmacy staffers released on bail

Charged with embezzlement

Three women formerly attached to the Medi-Care Pharmacy were on Thursday released on $150,000 bail each when they pleaded not guilty to embezzlement before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
Valmattie Ramnarine, 23, and Selene Sookdeo, 20, of Goed Fortuin, West Bank Demerara, were jointly charged for allegedly and fraudulently embezzling in excess of $655,000 between September 16, 2016 and June 2, 2017, property of Medi-Care Pharmacy.
Moreover, it is alleged that Zaheeda Khan and Valmattie Ramnarine between May 4, 2016 and June 15, 2017, while being employed as a clerk or servant at Medi-Care Pharmacy, fraudulently embezzled in excess of $1.6 million, taken into possession by them for, or in the name of the said Pharmacy, property of the named medical company.
Appearing on behalf of Ramnarine and Sookdeo was Attorney-at-Law Marcia Nadir-Sharma who respectfully requested her clients to be released on their own recognisance or be placed on reasonable bail, pending the outcome of trial. The lawyer relayed her clients’ personal information as the court heard that Sookdeo had no previous brushes with the law and had been under the care of her mother since her dismissal at Medi-Care Pharmacy following the surfacing of the fraud allegations. Ramnarine is a married mother of two children of tender age and is currently unemployed since termination of her services from the Pharmacy.
The Chief Magistrate was heard saying “Happy Birthday Mrs Khan”, as defence lawyer James Bond disclosed that his client’s 43rd birthday coincided with Thursday’s court hearing. The third accused has a fixed place of abode in North Cummingsburg, Georgetown and is a mother of two and was formerly employed at Medi-Care Pharmacy as a cashier, according to her attorney. Bond applied for bail to be set at a reasonable sum on the grounds that his client was a first-time offender who posed no flight risk; in addition Khan was reportedly released on $50,000 station bail following her arrest.
Police Prosecutor Arvin Moore disclosed the incomplete status of the file and requested that the matter be adjourned for three weeks. This case continues on August 4, 2017 at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.