Public Security Ministry, GRA employees before court for fraud

Tint licence scam

Danesh Dyal, 23, of Montrose, East Coast Demerara (ECD); Chaitram Persaud, 24, and Richard Mohan, 23, of Better Hope, ECD, were hauled before the court of Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman on Thursday and were each released on bail after they denied charges of conspiracy to commit fraud.
It is alleged that between March 1, 2017 and September 25, 2017, at Georgetown, the trio conspired with person(s) to forge one vehicle tint permit, purporting to show that same was issued by the Public Security Ministry.
In addition, Azad Mohammed, a businessman of Better Hope, was charged for uttering to Police Constable Jamal George on September 25, 2017, a forged vehicle tint permit purporting to show that it was issued by the Public Security Ministry, knowing same to be forged.
Police Prosecutor Shawn Gonsalves laid out a synopsis of the facts which detailed that between March 1, 2017 and September 25, 2017, Mohammed made contact with Mohan, also called “Richie”, an employee of the Ministry of Public Security who told him that he was in a position to acquire a tint permit on his behalf at the cost of $70,000.
Mohammed reportedly uttered the monies to Mohan, who then transferred same to the possession of Persaud, an employee of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), who passed the cash to Dyal, a gain entry clerk at the Public Security Ministry, before the transaction was completed.
Mohan subsequently returned to Mohammed a tint certificate as promised, but it was not be long before the scam unravelled and the parties were incriminated.
On September 25, 2017, the Better Hope businessman was pulled over by ranks of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to whom he presented the forged certificate upon request. Consequent investigations revealed that the permit was counterfeit in nature, and the user was arrested and charged for the offence of uttering a forged document to Police authorities.
Mohammed’s cooperation with Police during the course of the investigation led to the arrest of the string of persons involved in the alleged conspiracy, who were all brought before the court to answer to relevant charges on Thursday.
The accused persons were represented by a battery of attorneys who managed to secure bail for their clients in the sum of $100,000, except for Mohan who was required to pay $150,000 in bail.
The case will be called again on October 5, 2017, before the Chief Magistrate, Ann McLennan.