HCU boss gets $15,000 bail

AFTER being charged for participating in an illegal march against crime at Piarco International Airport on Sunday, four men were yesterday released on a total of $45,000 bail by an Arima magistrate. The four, Harry Harnarine, president of the Hindu Credit Union (HCU), Ronald Malchan, Elvis Sookhoo and Norbert Ramdeen, were told to return to court on July 30.

After numerous administrative delays throughout the morning, the quartet eventually appeared before Magistrate Debra Quintyne in the Arima First Court around 1 pm. All four men were charged with resisting arrest,  marching without a permit and organising a march without application. The charges were laid by  Ag Police Commissioner Trevor Paul and Northern Division Snr Supt Ruthven Bastien. When called upon to plead, all four men pleaded not guilty. Harnarine was granted $15,000 bail with surety while Sookhoo, Malchan and Ramdeen were each granted $10,000 bail with surety. The quartet was represented by attorneys Bindra Dolsingh and Ashvani Mahabir. Throughout the day, a large contingent of HCU officials kept vigil outside the court and flocked around Harnarine as he exited the court, flanked by bodyguards and his attorneys. The HCU president spoke briefly with reporters before being whisked away by his bodyguards to a waiting vehicle.

He said HCU had not planned any other public marches, but was encouraging its members and other citizens to submit petitions to the United Nations offices in Port-of-Spain, urging the UN to intervene in Trinidad and Tobago to reduce crime. Harnarine said if other business organisations followed HCU’s lead, the Government and others in authority would get serious about dealing with crime. “It is nothing political. We are into the politics of economics, not into the politics of representation through government,” he declared. Harnarine said HCU planned to hold a series of anti-crime public meetings throughout TT this week and were asking all citizens to post a black and white flag in their homes in order to tell the international community that this nation needs help to deal with crime.