Four men who allegedly conspired to steal over $6.5M from a bank account held at Republic Bank for the Guyana Oil Company (GuyOil) were all remanded to prison yesterday.
David Sundar, 20, of ‘I’34 898 Jackson Street, Tucville, was not required to enter a plea to an indictable simple larceny charge while Kirk Johnson, 21, Mark Johnson, 20, and Leroy Walker, 20, all of Section ‘B’ Diamond, East Bank Demerara, were also not required to enter a plea to the indictable charge of conspiracy to commit a felony when they appeared before Magistrate Priya Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
It is alleged that between July 23 and July 24 this year, Sundar, an employee of Republic Bank, Water Street, made a transfer of over $6.5M from a GuyOil account to an account with the name of Onika Kellman, in order to unlawfully withdraw money from same. It is also alleged that between July 24 and July 27, the Johnsons and Walker conspired with each other and other persons unknown and stole over $688,000 from the GuyOil’s bank account at Republic Bank by way of an ATM card that they used to withdraw the money from Kellman’s account at an ATM machine.
The prosecution stated that Sundar and Walker are friends and the Johnsons are brothers. Kirk, the prosecution said, had pointed out to Sundar that he had access to monies in several bank accounts at Republic Bank and could withdraw monies from them. They said that Sundar had declined the offer at that time.
The prosecutor went on to say that Kirk then convinced Sundar’s friend Walker to convince him to accept the offer and help them get the money and he later did. They said that Sundar then made the money transfer into the Kellman account and Kirk and Walker then used an ATM card at an ATM machine to make purchases and withdrew over $688,000 from the account. The bank later detected the fraud and the matter was reported and the four men were charged.
However, attorney Glenn Hanoman, who appeared in association with Rexford Jackson for Kirk, stated that his client was arrested at his home on Saturday and he was a University of Guyana computer science student. He said that his client had instructed him that the only part that he had played in the conspiracy was that he was asked by a friend to withdraw the money with the friend’s ATM card at an ATM machine.
He said that when he had attempted to do that no money came out of the account. The lawyer then applied for bail on the grounds that his client posed not risk of flight, that it was a bailable offence and he had no previous convictions. He also noted that his client had a possession of ammunition charge that would be read to him in another court.
Meanwhile, lawyer Mark Waldron representing Walker and Sundar, applied for reasonable bail for them on the grounds that they had never been arrested for any other offence and that the facts of the case will be proven at the trial. He also stated that Sundar voluntarily turned himself in at the police station on Saturday when he became aware of the allegations against him.
Meanwhile, Mark Johnson’s lawyer, Peter Hugh, also applied for bail for him on the grounds that he had no previous convictions, posed no risk of flight and he was arrested at his home.
He said that his client had recently passed an army recruitment test and this case may affect him gaining entrance.
But the prosecution objected to the bail applications on the grounds that the men posed a risk of flight, that they may continue to commit similar offences and that they may tamper with the witnesses if released. The magistrate subsequently ordered that the four men be remanded to prison and ordered that they reappear back in court on September 21.
Meanwhile, Kirk Johnson later pleaded not guilty to an unlawful possession of ammunition charge when it was read to him by Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton. The charge stated that he allegedly had fourteen 9mm rounds of ammunition in his possession without being the lawful owner of a firearm license on August 22.
His lawyer Jackson stated that he had an unblemished record in the court prior to this incident and the premises where the ammunition was found were occupied by several other persons.
He then applied for reasonable bail for his client. The prosecution objected to the bail application on the grounds that Kirk had admitted to the offence because the ammunition was found in his bed. The magistrate subsequently ordered that he be remanded to prison and that the matter be transferred to the Christiansburg Magis-trate’s Court for August 28.
