A 27-yea-old private sector employee who allegedly embezzled more than $2.7 million at her former place of employment was brought before the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court on Friday to answer 18 charges.
Haimlata Temal of 12 Good Hope, Canal No. 1, West Bank Demerara was previously before Principal Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle on March 19 on three charges of embezzlement and she was remanded to prison.
At the March 19 court proceedings the prosecution had explained to the court that investigations were ongoing because the company had called in an auditor and other charges were expected to be levelled against Temal. On Friday fifteen additional charges were brought against the accused, increasing the number of charges to eighteen. Temal pleaded not guilty to all.
It is alleged that between July 9 last year and March 13 Temal being employed as a clerk/servant at Beepat’s fraudulently embezzled over $2.7 million received by her for her employer.
Attorney-at-law Gwendolyn Bristol in Temal’s defence said that after being incarcerated since March 19 it is only now that these additional charges are being brought against her client. The accused should be granted bail so that she can have the right to freely come and show the court that these charges are wrongfully brought against her, Bristol said.
She also noted that the offence is bailable and her client should be granted it because she has a two-year-old child. Temal, the lawyer said, is willing to hand over her passport to the court.
The prosecution explained that when the matter was first brought before the court on March 19 bail was objected to because of the pending charges which were brought against the accused on Friday. The prosecution further said that at the time the accused was at risk of leaving the jurisdiction. However on Friday the prosecution did not object to bail but stipulated that if it were to be granted it should be in a substantial amount.
The defence counsel’s application for bail was granted in the sum of $50,000 per charge, making Temal’s total bail $900,000. The matter was transferred to Court Six and will continue on May 23.
