Powergen worker in court on fraud charge

An employee of the Power Generation Company of Trinidad and Tobago (Powergen) appeared before a Port-of-Spain magistrate yesterday charged with fraudulently soliciting money for himself as a reward for the allocation of contracts to another person named in the charge. Appearing before Magistrate Avason Quinlan in the Port-of-Spain 4B Court was 48-year-old Dave Francois of Mathura Street, St James, a purchasing officer at the company. The charge read that on dates unknown between the period July 1, 2003, and August 12, 2003, Ferguson solicited the sum of US$3,000 from Mario Ferrao, as a reward so that Dave Francois favour Mario Ferrao in the allocation of contracts for freight forwarding from Powergen.

The charge was laid indictably. Representing Francois was attorney Keith Scotland, who, in an application for bail, told the magistrate that his client, a faithful company employee for the past nine and a half years, was not a flight risk. Scotland told the court his client was a father of three, who, on learning of the allegations against him, surrendered to the police yesterday and would readily surrender to the court once granted bail. “All of his antecedents point to one thing — he is a man of good standing. He has never felt the clanging of prison gates behind him,” Scotland told the magistrate. Bail was granted with a surety in the sum of $75,000 to be approved by a clerk of the peace. The matter was adjourned to March 16.