A carpenter was yesterday accused of making a false accident claim in a bid to defraud the Hand-in-Hand Insurance Company Limited.
Conroy Washington was admitted to bail in the sum of $200,000 by acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry. The allegation against Washington, 19, of 18 Church Street, of Stanleytown, Berbice is that on May 25, 2010, with intent to defraud, he forged a Hand-in-Hand discharge sheet in favour of himself, purporting to show that he was involved in an accident and was due compensation. He is also accused on May 26, 2010, of obtaining from Hand-in-Hand the sum of $300,000, by pretending that he was involved in an accident and the said money was due to him, knowing same to be false. Washington was not required to plead to the two indictable charges on which he was arraigned at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
In presenting the prosecution’s case, Police Corporal Venetta Pindar told the court that the accused went to the hospital and obtained a medical certificate, which he later took to the insurance company, making claims for compensation. According to Pindar, it was while the medical certificate and other documents taken by the defendant were being examined by agents of the company that something seemed amiss. She said that further examinations later conclusively uncovered the fraud.
Washington was granted bail in the amount of $100,000 on each charge and the case was transferred to Court Three for reports and fixture on February 28.
