Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle on Tuesday remanded a labourer to prison after he was accused of attempting to purchase over $1M in electrical items from a city store using a fake cheque.
Thirty-year-old Zaheer Abdool, called Sheik Ally, of Middle Road, La Penitence, pleaded not guilty to the charges of endeavouring to obtain upon a forged instrument and uttering a forged document.
It is alleged that on December 14, with intent to defraud, Abdool tried to obtain two air conditioning units and other articles together valued $1,139,380, upon or by virtue of a forged cheque purportedly issued by ScotiaBank, knowing same to be forged. On the same day he allegedly uttered the forged cheque to Monalisa Joyeux of Supreme Electronics Store.
Abdool, who was unrepresented in court, in his defence said his employer, a contractor, sent him with three cheques to uplift some beverages. He said he only handed over the cheques to the person at the store and collected the items which he then took to his boss’s Friendship home, in the vehicle that was given to him to conduct the errands. Abdool said that after unloading the items, he left and went back to work.
However, Police Prosecutor Sherwin Matthews told the court that on the said day Abdool went to the store and ordered the items mentioned in the charge. He paid for them using a ScotiaBank cheque but he was asked to return the following day to uplift the items. Matthews said that when he returned, an employee noticed some irregularities on the cheque and the sale was stopped. The man was later arrested, Matthews said.
“This is not the first time that he is being charged with this type of offence,” Matthews said adding that Abdool was accused of obtaining $500,000 for a visa transaction but the charge was dismissed. The prosecutor added that on that occasion the man was charged under the name Sheik Ally. Matthews objected to bail being granted on the grounds that Abdool may use the opportunity to commit more serious offences.
Meanwhile, Abdool, again in his defence, said that the police don’t want to go to his employer’s residence to investigate his claims.
He was ordered to appear in Court Three on January 14.
