A businesswoman of Lamaha Street in Queenstown, Georgetown, who was hired to provide tempered glass for the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall renovation project was charged with fraud on Friday and appeared before a city Magistrate.
Samantha Singh, a single mother, was charged with false conversion when she appeared before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly.
She entered a not guilty plea to the charge that on April 28 at Mandela Avenue in Georgetown, she had been given $4M by Eworth C Sangster of E.C.S Construction and General Supplies to buy and provide tempered glass, but had instead used the money for her own use and benefit.
The Police prosecutor requested for the defendant to report to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters and for her to provide the court with her current address.
Singh’s Attorney-at-Law Nigel Hughes, among other things, informed the court that Sangster had hired his client to provide reinforced glass for two projects: the renovation of the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall and another one in Leonora, West Coast Demerara (WCD).
He clarified that his client had two dealings with Sangster in relation to the glass sourcing. Additionally, he said his client needed to import the glass from China.
Hughes further said that his client was later taken into custody and brought before the court.
Singh was granted bail in the sum of $50,000.
Meanwhile, in a press statement, Hughes said Singh was arrested at MovieTowne in the presence of her young child. When she arrived at the Criminal Investigation Department Headquarters (CID), he said she was informed that if she did not want to be held for three days, she had to pay $2M. The sum was paid, he added.
“Ms Singh then retained Hughes Fields and Stoby who immediately reported the criminal conduct of officers of the Guyana Police Force both to the Commissioner of Police and the Chairman of the Police Complaints Authority,” the statement said.
Hughes claims that the Police Complaints Authority received the complaint, recognised it, and then launched an investigation into the actions of the relevant Police officers.
Charges against Singh, according to him, were only brought after it was reported that the Police had engaged in “criminal conduct” in their attempts to frighten her.
As such, the lawyer said, “We consider the charges to be malicious and not founded in law and will challenge the evidently abusive exercise of power by the Guyana Police Force.”
