Grove woman defrauded travel agency of $1.2M over tickets to Barbados -court told

Nazia Persaud
Nazia Persaud

After being charged last month with fraudulently obtaining money to purchase a low income home, a Grove, East Bank woman found herself hauled before a city court once more yesterday to answer to a charge of defrauding a travel agency of $1.2 million in tickets.

Nazia Persaud was brought before Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman, who read a charge to her which stated that on July 9th, at Cummings Street, Georgetown, she incurred a debt at Summer Time Travel Agency by obtaining credit for 10 airline tickets, valued at $1,264,000, for travel to Barbados and she refused to pay.

Persaud, 37, of Lot 44 Grove, East Bank Demerara, denied the allegation.

According to police prosecutor Quinn Harris, Persaud went to Summer Time Travel Agency and enquired about 10 tickets to travel to Barbados for a team and their coach and she promised to pay for them. The prosecutor noted that the players and the coach used the tickets and returned but the money was never paid, hence the charge.

Asked by the magistrate if he wished to say anything, the manager of the company told the court that the complainant only paid $150,000 at the premises. He said if Persaud does not pay the remainder, he would be forced to pay the amount himself. He added that the defendant told him “Guyana is a land of water, gold and mineral and that’s not a lot of money to pay.”

However, Persaud told the court that the complainant has refused to give her a receipt, while adding that she did promise to pay but is yet to do so.

Magistrate Latchman later granted Persaud her release on $200,000 bail and adjourned the matter until October 1st.