The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has recommended charges for the Berbice woman who allegedly duped several seamen into buying a fake training programme with the promise that it would help them get jobs in the oil and gas sector.
The seamen taking part in the fake training programme
Dozens of seamen were allegedly duped into taking courses offered through the agency the woman operates in New Amsterdam, Berbice, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), with them paying millions of dollars to benefit from two certificate training courses.
However, more than eleven months after participating in the seven-day course, the seamen are still awaiting on their certificates, which prompted their suspicion that something was amiss and led to them going to the Police.
According to the seamen, they responded to an advertisement for training and recruiting by an agency for an oil company in Guyana. They said that the school had advertised two courses for applicants. Those courses were the Standards of Training Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) and Lifting and Banksman course. To complete the courses, applicants were required to pay a total fee of $260,000. The charge recommended by the DPP is obtaining money by false pretence.
Acting on the advice of the DPP, in excess of a dozen charges have been made out by Police for the woman.
