The police yesterday said the medical certificates presented to them purporting to show that accused ‘Ponzi’ scheme operators Yuri Garcia and Ateeka Ishmael were COVID-19 positive have been found to be forgeries.
Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum, confirmed to Stabroek News yesterday afternoon that investigators were able to determine that the documents, which were presented by the couple’s attorney were not authentic.
Dominguez, 34, a naturalised Guyanese of Cuban origin, and his wife, Ishmael, the principals of Accelerated Capital Firm Inc (ACFI), are currently facing close to 80 charges in what has been described as a huge Ponzi scheme.
They have been released on bail amounting to about $30 million.
In late July, they were slapped with an additional 60 new charges of conspiracy to defraud.
However, on that date, the police had said the couple failed to show up at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s court.
Their attorney tendered two medical certificates that showed they had tested positive for COVID-19. An investigation was immediately launched to determine whether the certificates were authentic.
The charges against the couple were laid separately before different magistrates.
According to Blanhum, the investigation revealed that the font of the documents were smaller than the standard font used by the National Public Health Reference (NPHR) laboratory.
He said the signatures on the certificates were also not that of any NPHR staff member.
In addition, Blanhum said the number of the certificates corresponded with that of another individual who had tested negative.
Information provided by this newspaper revealed that each sample registered by the laboratory is given a unique seven-digit code generated by the laboratory. Once used, a code is never repeated.
The police were up to last night making preparations to contact the attorney to question him about the documents.
