A South Road man, charged with fraudulent conversion, was yesterday remanded to prison after an attempt to mislead the court upset his chances of having the matter settled amicably.
It was alleged that Carlos Singh, 32, of Lot 8 South Road, on November 9th, being solely entrusted by Larry Gursahai with 12 portable DVD players, 30 MAC lights, 12 four-gigabyte flash drives, two Samsung cellphones, 24 pairs of panties and four pairs of socks in order to sell and return the proceeds, fraudulently converted same to his own use and benefit. The total value of the items was $585,000.
Singh, who has a shop in the interior, initially pleaded guilty to the charge but later entered anot guilty plea after being advised by his attorney.
The prosecution yesterday told the court that the defendant was known to the complainant, who imports items to sell. Prosecutor Deniro Jones stated that Gursahai gave the items to Singh, who signed two bills saying he received same. He, however, never saw the defendant again until December, when Singh indicated to him that he had used the money.
Singh stated however, that when he saw Gursahai, he informed him that he would return the money as he had a piece of gold worth $200,000 at home as well as the other unsold goods and would commit to paying the outstanding debt thereafter.
Magistrate Ann McLennan deferred sentencing, telling Singh that she would have him escorted to his home to get the gold and remaining goods and the difference from what was outstanding would be calculated. When the matter was recalled, however, the investigating rank in the matter informed the magistrate that although some of the items were recovered, the defendant said he had no gold at his house.
The recovered items, 11 DVD players, two cellphones, eight pairs of panties and two pairs of socks, amounted to $252,000.
The magistrate, voicing her disapproval at Singh attempting to deceive the court even as she had tried to settle the matter amicably, ordered that he be remanded to prison until his next court date. She said she could not trust that he would return for trial. Singh is set to make his next appearance before the Chief Magistrate on January 13th.
