Ateeka Ishmael, one of the principals of accused ‘Ponzi’ firm Accelerated Capital Firm Inc (ACFI), was yesterday charged with forging a COVID-19 test result to show that it was positive.
Ishmael, of Track A, Coldingen, East Coast Demerara, appeared before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly in a Georgetown court on a charge of conspiracy to commit a felony.
She is accused of conspiring with Yuri Garcia Dominguez and others to forge a COVID-19 test result.
She pleaded not guilty to the charge and was granted bail in the amount of $200,000. She is expected to make her next appearance on September 10, 2021.
Ishmael and partner Dominguez in late July 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.
Upon the completion of the investigation, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum had confirmed to Stabroek News that investigators were able to determine that the documents were not authentic.
He noted that the investigation revealed that the font of the documents were smaller than the standard font used by the National Public Health Reference (NPHR) laboratory and 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.
This newspaper was told 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 principals of 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.
