A COUVA woman has appeared before the Port of Spain Master’s Court charged with several fraud-related offences after allegedly issuing fraudulent ministry cheques.
Shamika Phillis Samuel, of Couva, appeared before Master Valene Guerra-Abraham on Friday, charged with two counts of obtaining goods and cash by false pretences and two counts of money laundering.
She was granted bail in the sum of $60,000 and is scheduled to reappear in court on July 15.
The charges arose from a report made by the Head of Compliance at a government ministry after irregularities were detected involving several documents purporting to be ministry-issued cheques in the names of persons who were not clients of the ministry.
An investigation was launched during which it was discovered that supermarkets in the El Dorado and Port of Spain areas had been defrauded of goods and cash after accepting cheques endorsed by the accused, which were later determined to be counterfeit.
Samuel was charged on Thursday by Constable Atiba Gabriel of the Anti-Corruption Investigations Bureau.
In a release on Friday, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) urged members of the public to remain vigilant when engaging in financial transactions involving monetary instruments. Police called on business owners to defer transactions to dates and times when the authenticity of cheques and the identities of employers and employees could be verified.
‘Fraudsters often exploit periods when businesses and Government entities are closed, such as late evenings and weekends, to conduct transactions and avoid verification,’ the TTPS stated.
It said it was working in consultation with Government ministries to develop more robust anti-fraud mechanisms to safeguard State-funded grants and assistance programmes.
