Supreme Court Registrar Evelyn Sita Ramlal and Norman McLean, a retired chief of staff of the army, were yesterday charged with four counts of conspiracy to defraud when they appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court and were granted bail totalling $850,000.
Ramlal, 58, of 2 Bel Air and McLean, 74, of 77 Forshaw Street were not required to plead to the indictable charges when they were read to them.
It is alleged that on December 10, 2004 and March 18, 2009 at Georgetown, with intent to defraud, Ramlal and McLean conspired with each other and person or persons unknown to forge an adoption order in respect to a girl child, purporting to show that the said adoption order was issued on December 14, 2000 knowing same to be false.
It is also alleged that on December 10, 2004 and March 18, 2009 at Georgetown, with intent to defraud, Ramlal and McLean conspired with each other and person or persons unknown to forge an adoption order in respect to the same child purporting to show that the said adoption order was issued on December 10, 2001 knowing same to be false.
Allegedly, on June 18, 2004 and March 18, 2009 at Georgetown, with intent to defraud, Ramlal and McLean conspired with each other and person or persons unknown to forge an adoption order in respect to the same child purporting to show that the said adoption order was dated August 10, 2000 and entered on August 14, 2000 knowing same to be false.
On June 18, 2004 and March 18, 2009 at Georgetown, with intent to defraud, Ramlal and McLean allegedly conspired with each other and person or persons unknown forged a summons, an affidavit in support of summons, a statement by Lynette McLean, a consent of parent form, and several other documents and particulars to be furnished with application for an adoption order all being original documents belonging to the Court of Records in Guyana in the matter of an adoption of the same child by Norman McLean and Vidya McLean purporting to show that the said documents were all dated the year 2000 knowing same to be false.
McLean was further charged alone with two counts of delivering documents. It is alleged that on February 17, 2005 at Georgetown, with intent to defraud, he delivered to Dawn Britton a forged adoption order in respect of the same child, dated December 14, 2000 knowing same to be false. It is also alleged that on February 17, 2005 at Georgetown, McLean with intent to defraud delivered to Leota Landford a forged adoption order in respect of the same child dated December 14, 2000 knowing same to be false.
When the case was called, persons in the courtroom were very attentive and could be heard discussing quietly what they thought Ramlal’s response to the charges would be. However, they were disappointed since the defendants were not required to plead to the charges.
Asked by the court’s orderly to stand in the dock, Ramlal appeared to be taken aback and was somewhat hesitant, proceeding at a snail’s pace.
A battery of attorneys including Nigel Hughes, Senior Counsel Rex McKay, Mark Waldron, Roger Yearwood, Robin Hunte and Ronald Burch-Smith represented the duo. Hughes, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, explained that he did not wish at this early stage to get into the technicalities of the case just yet.
Describing the characters of his clients as impeccable and unblemished, Hughes made an application for the defendants to be admitted to their own recognisance stating that they had both cooperated and complied with the police in their investigations and that neither posed a risk of flight, nor would they interfere with the police’s investigations.
Police Prosecutor Denise Griffith had no opposition to the bail application made by the defence but asked that the travel documents of the defendants be lodged with the police since McLean is a resident of the United States and Ramlal can travel to the US also.
Hughes forcefully op-posed this, stating that the prosecution failed to provide reasons why the travel documents should be lodged. He added that the prosecution should have asked that such documents be lodged at the initial stage when the charges were laid since, at that time the scope would have been greater for the defendants to flee the jurisdiction or even the country.
Hughes argued that McLean conducts commerce with his business partners in the US and would be required to attend meetings in that country from time to time.
As regards Ramlal, Hughes told the court that she has a medical condition that sometimes causes her to slip into a coma and if this occurred she would need to be medivacced to the US where she would undergo treatment since Guyana is unable to provide the medical attention she requires.
The attorney asked that the defendants be ordered to pay frequent visits to the Police Station instead, and assured the court that if granted bail they would return to court.
The magistrate acquiesced to Hughes’s request that the defendants travel documents not be lodged and bail was subsequently granted. McLean was granted bail to the tune of $510,000, while Ramlal was granted bail to the tune of $340,000.