Joel Ali, the H. Nauth and Sons Construction Company clerk who police said staged his own abduction and a robbery, was on Thursday charged along with another man with stealing $4M.
Ali, 25, of Lot 4 Riverview, West Bank Demerara and Sewsankar Jewt, of Nootenzuil, East Coast Demerara were placed on $300,000 bail each by acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
The two men, charged with larceny, were accused of stealing the money on Monday, March 19. It was alleged that Ali, on Monday, was required to deposit the money at a bank, a task he normally does, but failed to do so.
Ali reported that he was abducted and robbed on Monday of $4M in cash and a cheque valued $4M. Ali told police that he was driving his black Toyota Raum PNN 5004 along South Road, Georgetown around 1 pm, when another vehicle collided with him from behind. He said he parked his vehicle as it was and came out and he was confronted by two men, who had exited the other vehicle. He said he was held at gunpoint and forced back into his vehicle, where he was blindfolded and taken to an unknown destination.
There, he said he was assaulted, robbed of the cash and the cheque, and left tied up while the perpetrators escaped in his vehicle. He later managed to free himself and then proceeded to the police to make a report.
Police later said that investigations revealed that the reports were false and $2.1M was recovered.
The matter was on Thursday transferred to Magistrate Sueanna Lovell’s court, where the defendants’ lawyer asked for a reduction of bail. The reduction was denied since Magistrate Lovell noted that the money missing is of a substantial amount and that $300,000 is reasonable in the situation.
The case will be called again on April 2.
