T&T men charged in ATM scam now behind bars

(Trinidad Express) Two men charged in connection with the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) skimming scam were remanded into prison custody following their appearance in the Port of Spain Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

Aaron Ramlal, 18, and Rajendranath Singh, 24, appeared before Magistrate Marcia Murray yesterday afternoon on a total of 84 charges.

Despite being granted bail in the sum of TT$100,000 for the offences which allegedly took place in the Port of Spain district, Murray said she was not willing to grant bail for the offences which allegedly took place in other areas outside of the capital city.

A magistrate at the courts in those districts would be required to deal with the issue of granting bail to the men if the court sees it fit to do so, said Murray.

Ramlal, a backhoe operator and Singh, a mechanic, both of Madras Road, St Helena Village, Piarco, are each facing 42 charges of attempting to defraud various branches of Republic Bank Limited (RBL) and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) on three separate days.

They are accused of carrying out the offences on June 29, and July 1 and 2, this year , in Port of Spain, Tunapuna, Sangre Grande and Arima.

Ramlal and Singh are each facing 21 charges of attempting to defraud RBL and RBC by means of using fraudulent debit card and another 21 charges each on obtaining information from the bank’s database with intent to defraud the said banks.

The men were not called upon to plead to the first 21 charges as they were laid indictably. However, on the latter 21 charges, which were laid summarily, both accused pleaded not guilty.

According to the charges, they defrauded the banks of over TT$16,000 over the three-day period.

Attorney Ken Wright, who represented Ramlal, said his client had no previous or pending matters before the court. He asked that Murray grant bail for the offences which allegedly took place in the other districts, but the magistrate denied the application.

Police prosecutor Sgt Callista Charles said he was not objecting to bail being granted in the Port of Spain matters, but asked the court to consider the number of charges and the seriousness of the offences.

He said should the court grant bail, the prosecution was also asking that the accused be made to report to the Fraud Squad office twice a week.

Attorney Dinesh Narine, who is representing Singh, said he was not objecting to the prosecutor’s request that his client be made to report to the police.

As a condition of their TT$100,000 bail bond, both men are required to report to the Fraud Squad every Monday and Friday.

They will return to the Port of Spain Court on July 30. For the offences which allegedly took place in Arima, Sangre Grande and Tunapuna, they will be appearing in court on July 23, 24 and 26 respectively.