Two Guyanese journalists living in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) have been arrested and charged with uttering a forged document and demanding property of the same several months ago.
According to a BVI Platinum News report, the charges stemmed from the renewal of work permit applications that were submitted to the Labour Department mid-year in 2021.
The report said that Cathyolivia Richards, also known as ‘Cathy,’ of Fort Hill and Hitesh Yadram, 43, of Great Mountain, were arrested last Thursday. They are employees of JTV.
They were granted bail and asked to appear in the Magistrate’s Court on March 30, the report said.
“The work permit applications were made during a brief period when it became a requirement for applicants for work permit renewals [to] provide three certificates of good standings – one each from the National Health Insurance (NHI), Social Security Board (SSB) and Inland Revenue Department (IRD),” the BVI Platinum News report explained.
The report noted that this was done at a time to ensure employers were paying in deductions from employees’ salaries, as required by law, among other things.
Alleged discrepancies in the applications were flagged by staff at the Labour Department.
The report added that reports indicated that an internal inter-agency investigation was mounted and a decision was made to report the matter to the police for further investigations.
