A former Royal Castle supervisor, who allegedly stole over $19.3 million while working for the fast-food chain, was granted bail yesterday after she denied the charges at a city court.
Candace Stuart, 33, of Lot 40 Princes Street, appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court and denied three charges that were read to her.
The first charge stated that between January 2nd, and February 27th, 2019, at Diamond, East Bank Demerara, while being employed as a clerk or servant at Royal Castle Inc., Stuart stole $4,640,409 from the entity. It was further alleged that between October 1st, 2018 and December 31st, 2018, at the same location, while being employed as a clerk or servant, she stole $5,975,209 from the business. The last charge stated that between January 2nd, 2018 and September 29th, 2018, at Sheriff Street, Georgetown, while being employed as a clerk or servant of Royal Castle Inc., she stole $8,740,695 from the entity. Stuart was represented by attorney-at-law Dexter Todd, who told the court that his client, who is now a food-vendor, was a former supervisor at the entity until February of this year. He said Stuart, who was not computer literate, held the position for seven years. He revealed that several other employees are being investigated for the matter as a total of $91 million was reported missing from the company. He said investigators initially told Stuart that she would be charged for the entire sum but on Thursday she was informed that she would be charge for just over $19 million.
According to Police Prosecutor Gordon Mansfield, an internal audit found that several million dollars were missing and after investigations were conducted it was discovered that Stuart exploited the point of sale system in order to steal the money mentioned in the charges.
With no objections by the Mansfield, the magistrate set bail at $100,000 with the condition that Stuart lodges her passport and report to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) headquarters every Friday at 8 am. She adjourned the matter until December 5th, 2019.
