Three men including an ex-immigration officer charged with forgery of immigration stamps were yesterday admitted to bail in the sum of $250,000 each when they appeared before acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.
The allegation is that on October 5 at Georgetown, Steven Bourne, Kathildo Ramsawak and Edward Bowen, with intent to defraud, conspired together with each other to obtain from Baichandeen two Guyana Police Force immigration stamps by falsely pretending that the said stamps were required by the Guyana Police Force, knowing same to be false.
The defendants were not required to plead to the indictable charge of conspiracy to commit a felony when it was read to them by the acting chief magistrate.
Prosecutor Lionel Harvey stated that on the day in question, Bourne and Bowen conspired together with Ramsawak to create the false immigration stamps and have them issued as if they were authentic stamps prepared by Baichandeen, who is legally contracted by the Force to create such stamps.
According to Harvey, the replicas created by the defendants were detected as being false when they attempted to conduct business. Harvey said that the police acting on information were called in to launch an investigation which subsequently led to the arrest of the accused persons.
Attorney-at-law Vic Puran who represented Bourne and Bowen in his submission to the court said that his clients had absolutely no knowledge of the offence for which they were charged as they were never involved in such a matter.
The attorney then made an application for his clients to be admitted to reasonable bail on the grounds that they have no antecedents, pose no risk of flight, have fixed addresses and have been cooperating with the police in their investigations.
Bourne, 24, a scrap metal dealer, previously served the Guyana Police Force for six years. Bowen on the other hand is 34 years old and his address was given as 17 Public Road Grove, East Bank Demerara.
The prosecution made an application for the accused persons to be denied their pretrial liberty, citing the seriousness and prevalence of the offence.
Attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes who represented Ramsawak also made an application for the man to be granted reasonable bail.
The attorneys were successful in their bid to secure bail for their clients.
The men were granted their pretrial liberty in the sum of $250,000 each and ordered to return to court on October 21.