FRAUD Squad detectives yesterday arrested a former employee of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) and charged her with 28 counts of fraud, arising out of a report made last month by the  ADB.

The 29-year-old Belmont woman was arrested at her home early yesterday by Fraud Squad officers Sgt Kester McCain and Cpl Charmaine Williams. The 28 charges of obtaining money under false pretences were laid by WPCpl Williams, and Acting Cpls Sheldon Bart and Sarreal Bachoo. After the arrest, attorney Fitzgerald Hinds appeared at the Fraud Squad office on the woman’s behalf. Up to late last night, Hinds was trying to secure her bail. The former ADB clerk is due to appear before a Port-of-Spain magistrate today. According to sources, the woman was responsible for typing cheques at the ADB.  Sources told Newsday that the woman normally sent the cheques for signatures to the relevant authorities.  Most of the cheques were to pay utiliy bills at TSTT, TTEC, SECURICOR and other companies.

Sources said the cheques were then sent back to the woman.  However, she is reported to have erased the payee and put the cheques in the name of the Park Street branch of Royal Bank, where she held an account. The sum for the 28 charges totals $286,238.95 and the offences were reportedly committed during the period May 2001 to November 2002. Some of the figures include $17,219.38, $15,936.17, $15,572.29, $15,319.85 and $14,693.81. The fraud was discovered after Price Waterhouse was called in by the new ADB Board to do an audit.  Sources told Newsday that the scam was so cleverly done that the Auditor General’s Department did not pick it up. The female employee was dismissed and the ADB’s acting Chief Executive Officer Jacqueline Rawlins made a report to the Fraud Squad last month.

THE SON of a St Clair doctor was one of two young people kidnapped early yesterday morning as the kidnapping spree continued in the country. One of the young men, identified as Benedict Bharath, was released sometime after the snatching, while Yves Ayoung Chee, 18, of Scott Street, St Clair, remained unaccounted for up to late evening.

Newsday understands that a ransom has been demanded for Ayoung Chee’s safe return, but family members as well as officers of the Anti Kidnapping Squad (AKS) have put up a wall of secrecy around the demand, saying things were at a sensitive stage. The missing teenager, said to be a former student of St Mary’s College, is the son of Dr Wilson Ayoung Chee, whose office is reportedly situated at the Scott Street residence. He is also a relative of former president of the San Fernando Hospital Doctors Association, Dr Phillip Ayoung Chee, who confirmed that he was related to the kidnap victim, but said he wanted to “remain out of the picture.” According to police reports, Ayoung Chee was driving his black Wrangler jeep around 5.20 am in the vicinity of Marli Street, Newtown.  He was in company with Bharath and Goodwood Park resident Nolan Cooper, a bartender at Club Coconuts, which the three men had earlier left.

Police said on reaching Marli Street, a siren was heard after which a black vehicle was seen.  Ayoung Chee is reported to have brought his jeep to a stop and two men alighted from the black vehicle. Senior police officers told Newsday that the two men identified themselves as police officers. They then snatched Ayoung Chee and Bharath and left Cooper behind.  Cooper made a report to the St Clair Police Station. Both he and Bharath have been interviewed by the police and Newsday understands that the latter was medically examined.  At the Scott Street residence, relatives refused to speak to the media or provide photos of the victim.  Telephone calls to the residence were met with several “no comments.” However, an employee of Pizza Hut, identified only as Shirwell, visited the house, saying he was a “good friend” of the family.  He was not allowed in the house, but spoke to a man briefly at the front gate.

Shirwell later told reporters that he was in company with Ayoung Chee and others at the Club Coconuts, but that he left them earlier because he was hungry. The issue of kidnappings has been an ongoing topic in the country and several business people have been threatening to leave the country because of a lack of security. Yesterday, acting Commissioner of Police Everald Snaggs told Newsday he held a strategic meeting with members of his executive to discuss TT’s crime situation. At the “strategic meeting” were DCP Trevor Paul, acting DCP Glen Roach, ACPs Frank Diaz, Celestine Richards, Winston Cooper, Depchan Gosine, Nazamul Hosein, Oswyn Allard, acting ACP Curtis Lloyd, Sr Supt Gilbert Reyes and acting Sr Supt Nimrod of Homicide.

THREE persons were shot in separate incidents in less than three hours on Wednesday night.  Two of the shootings occurred in the Sangre Grande area, while the other took place in the Wallerfield district.

In the first instance, police said around 8.10 pm, Vincent Daniel, 26, of Guaico, Sangre Grande, was standing on a stairway at his friend’s home at Nicholas Trace, also in Guaico.Police said the two men observed four masked men wearing dark clothing approach them.  The armed men fired a volley of shots, after which Daniel felt a burning sensation to his chest. Daniel fell to the ground, and was taken to the Sangre Grande Hospital, where he was medically examined by Dr Vedula.  He was then transferred to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital (PoSGH), where he is said to be in stable condition. Also in Sangre Grande, police said around 9.45pm, Sherwin Cain, 36, was walking along a track at the rear of the Express Mini Mart, Graham Trace, Foster Road.

Cain, police said, was at the time in company with a woman identified as Shammy Bethelemy, 23.  Police said the couple then heard gunshots after which Cain fell to the ground bleeding from a wound to the left thigh. Cain was also rushed to the Sangre Grande Hospital where he was examined by Dr Patrick.  He was subsequently transferred to the Port-of-Spain institution. In both shootings in Sangre Grande, a party of officers headed by Insp Thomas and including Cpl Deosaran of the Sangre Grande CID visited the scene.

Later Wednesday night, at 10.30, police said caretaker Andy Boodoo, was walking north on the Churchill Roosevelt Highway in the vicinity of Moonan Road, Wallerfield, when he stumbled upon the body of Lester Solomon, 23, of Cap-de-Ville. Police said Solomon’s body had gunshot wounds to the legs and abdomen and was bathed in blood.  The police were contacted and a party of officers including Cpl Mark Maraj and PC Pamphille visited the scene and conducted investigations. Solomon was first taken to the Arima Health Facility after which he was transferred to the  Port-of-Spain hospital, where he is reported stable. Police said Solomon was conscious enough to give his name.  His relatives were contacted.  They told police that Solomon had left home since February.

ARMED policemen on guard duty at a Returning Office in Preysal may very well have saved the life of a driver after two bandits, who had abducted the man and tied him in the trunk of his own car, crashed the vehicle and ran off, leaving him there. The men panicked after seeing police on Wednesday night.

When the officers went to search the crash car, they heard muffled sounds coming from the trunk. When they opened the trunk, they found Indar Gokool tied up and lying inside. Gokool, 45, of Santa Clara, Preysal Village, told investigators that around 6.45 pm on Wednesday, he picked up two men in Couva who asked to be taken to a certain area in Preysal. One of the men sat in the front seat while the other sat in the back. A short time later, the front seat passenger placed a gun to Gokool’s head and ordered him to “pass everything.” The frightened man handed over $240 to the bandit who ordered him to pull to the side of the road. Gokool was tied up and forced into the trunk of the his car by the bandits, who re-entered the vehicle and drove off.

On reaching Market Street, the bandits spotted armed policemen standing guard at a building used as a Returning Office during Monday’s Local Government Elections. The bandits panicked, thinking the police had gotten a report on the robbery, and in their haste to escape, they crashed the car into a gate. The bandits alighted from the vehicle and ran off. The officers gave chase, but could not catch up with the bandits. When they returned to the crashed car, they heard muffled noises coming from the trunk. They later found Gokool tied up in the trunk. The officers took the man to the Chaguanas Health Centre where he was treated for minor cuts and bruises and discharged.

A report was made to the Couva police and a team of officers led by Sgt Peter Burke and including Cpl Noel Corbette and others visited the scene and carried out an unsuccessful mobile search of the area for the two bandits. Up to late yesterday, no arrests had been made and Cpl Corbette is continuing investigations.

UNITED National Congress (UNC) Member of Parliament for Fyzabad Chandresh Sharma, yesterday described as “politically motivated”, a break-in at his constituency office, in which files containing information on alleged discrepancies in Monday’s Local Government Elections, money, computers and other items were stolen.

The total cost of items stolen has not yet been ascertained, but sources said it could exceed $12,000. In a telephone interview yesterday, Sharma said he believed the thieves who broke into his office were aware that he had several files with information about Monday’s elections stored in his office. He said he was almost certain the intruders’ main objective was to find those files. Revealing that he was not yet fully apprised of the details, since he was on his way to Port-of-Spain, Sharma nonetheless slammed the break-in as “straight politics.” The break-in was discovered by receptionist Pamela Parasoo around 8.45 am when she opened the main gate leading to the MP’s office, which comprises four rooms, including the MP’s office, secretary’s office, a store room and conference/kitchen area. Sharma’s office was the only room not broken into.

On checking, Parasoo discovered the three other rooms ransacked and several files, $2,000 in cash, six bottles of Scotch whiskey and wine, a box of shirts, some trophies, several hampers and other items missing. She also discovered a NESC Computer Centre located downstairs the office had also been broken into and three computers, two mouse, a CPU and a keyboard missing. A NESC tutor said that apart from the stolen equipment, the intruders also dumped garbage in the cupboards and buried a calendar with a photo of Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday in the garbage. Employees reported to police that they had secured the building around 5.15 pm on Wednesday and left. Investigators believe the intruders had gained entry by cutting a padlock off a burglar-proof door at the side of the building. Police sources are working on the theory that the bandits may have been familiar with the interior of the building. Visiting the scene was a party of officers from Fyzabad police station headed by Insp Michael Wells. Fingerprint experts also visited the burglarised office in search of clues. Up to late yesterday no arrests had been made and investigations were continuing.

DIRECTOR of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Geoffrey Henderson yesterday ordered police to charge a 23-year-old Laventille man with Monday night’s murder of 13-year-old Joanna “Sookie” Walker, as well as the attempted murder of 21-year-old hairdresser Adeola Graham.

The man, who lives at Hamlet Trace, St Barb’s, is due to appear before a Port-of-Spain magistrate today, but police said this could be tentative since he may be placed on other identification parades. The man was arrested the same night of the shooting incident, which occurred on Mentor Alley, a stone’s throw from where Walker lived.  He was charged by Cpl Steve Sookdeo of the Besson Street CID. Walker had just stepped outside her home to get a breath of fresh air when she got caught in the line of fire by two men who were reportedly gunning for a Muslim man.

Relatives told Newsday that Walker decided to go outside after she lost a game of All Fours.  She was playing the game with other siblings.  She was shot once and died at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. Walker’s death brought to 15 the number of teenagers killed for the year.  Of the 15, 12 have been shot while the other three were stabbed.  Seven people have been charged in the 15 killings thus far.

TWO men, including a labourer with the Ministry of Works, were killed in separate accidents on Wednesday night in the Central district. The two have been identified by Central police as Chabianath Dhagal, 38, of Edinburgh 500, and Arnold Herrera, 32, of Flanagin Town.

Their deaths have brought the number of road fatalities for the year to 105 from 85 accidents, according to Assistant Commissioner of Police (Mobile) Deochan Gosine. In the first instance, police said around 8 pm, Kenneth Seepersad, 38, was driving a vehicle north along the Tabaquite Road, Brasso, in the vicinity of Orange Field. Police said Seepersad lost control of the vehicle, which ran off the road and overturned.  Herrera, who was seated in the front passenger seat, died on the spot, while Seepersad suffered minor injuries.

PCs Ramlogan and Maraj of the Gran Couva Police Station visited the scene and are continuing investigations. With respect to the other road fatality, police sources said around 8.15 pm Dhagal was attempting to cross the road from east to west on the Uriah Butler Highway in the vicinity of the Mid Centre Mall, Chaguanas. He was struck by a vehicle driven by Roland Tsoi-A-Fatt.  Cpl Alexander of the Chaguanas Police Station is continuing investigations. In both road fatalities, District Medical Officer (DMO) Dr Vinod Mahabir visited the scene and pronounced the men dead.  Autopsies were due to be performed yesterday.