Law Association clerk, prison officer charged for fraud offences

Three people were arrested and charged by the Fraud Squad between October 10 and 12 on various offences including larceny, money laundering, and submission of a fraudulent academic certificate.

Accounts clerk at the Law Association of TT Randell Dillon Sahadeo was granted $300,000 bail when he appeared in court on Thursday. He will next appear before the Port of Spain Magistrates Court on October 31.

He was initially arrested on October 10 and charged on October 12 with one offence of larceny and 12 charges of money laundering, stemming from a report of several returned cheques totalling $385,295.32, made out to a company allegedly owned by Sahadeo.

The discrepancies were detected during a reconciliation exercise at the association and a report was made to the police.

In another matter, prison officer Neil Looknanan, who has 27 years service, was granted $100,000 bail on Thursday and is scheduled to appear at the Port of Spain Magistrate’s Court on November 23.

He was charged for allegedly submitted a fake academic certificate in support of an application made for a promotion to the rank of prisons supervisor. The certificate for a BSc in Mechanical Engineering supposedly from the University of the West Indies was later found to be fraudulent.

A report was made to the Fraud Squad and Looknanan was arrested on October 11.

In the third matter, Devon Foster was denied bail when he appeared before the San Fernando Magistrates Court on Friday. He will next appear on Monday.

He was charged with three offences of larceny by trick on October 12. The charges come from reports of victims who allegedly paid a total of $91,000 to have their application for state housing at the Housing Development Cooperation fast-tracked.

A report was made to the Fraud Squad and the matter was investigated. Foster was then arrested on October 12.

White-collar Crime Division head ACP Wendell Lucas praised the continued good work being done by Snr Supt Arlett Groome and his team at the Fraud Squad.

He said “The White-Collar Crime Division has taken a zero tolerance to fraud offenders and will be unrelenting in their efforts to prosecute them.”