Businesswomen offered bail after spending $2m mistakenly sent to company account

Two company directors who are facing criminal charges, arising from US$2 million which was reported to have been mistakenly transferred by the National Commercial Bank (NCB) in February to their company’s foreign exchange account at one of its branches, have been granted bail.

They are Sheena-Gay Smith and Amshana Campbell, directors of Garden Trucking and Equipment Limited in May Pen, Clarendon. They have been offered bail in the sum of $500,000 each with one or two sureties.

Senior Puisne Judge Lorna Shelly-Williams granted them bail last week following a bail application made by attorney-at-law Hugh Wildman who is representing them.

They were denied bail when they appeared in the Clarendon Parish Court last month and were ordered to return to court on April 15.

Wildman applied to the Supreme Court for bail and outlined in the grounds of the application that the parish court judge failed to appreciate that the absence of information by the Crown and the need for the police to further investigate was not a basis to deny the claimants’ bail.

It was also submitted that the parish judge “failed to appreciate that on the evidence presented so far by the Crown, the claimants have a strong defence as they had no mens rea in relation to the money that was taken out of the account; as they genuinely believed that the funds were deposited to the company’s account by their overseas clients in a legitimate transaction”.

The women are facing charges of simple larceny, engaging in a transaction involving criminal property, conspiracy to defraud, transferring criminal property, breach of the Cybercrimes Act and access with intent to commit/facilitate the commission of an offence.

It is being alleged that the money was mistakenly lodged by NCB to a foreign exchange account which the company had at the NCB branch in May Pen.

Smith, the executive director of the company, had stated in her affidavit filed on March 21 in support of the bail application, that the company had just negotiated a contract with Canadian company LG Project Limited to build a solar plant in York Town, Clarendon. She stated that the funds to be derived from that contract were to be sent to the same United States account held at the NCB branch in May Pen.

WE ARE INNOCENT

The monies were seen in the account and “we honestly believed” that the funds came in from the Canadian company because US$2 million was expected from that contract. Smith stated that the money was taken from the account to conduct company business, including the purchase of equipment, motor vehicles and to pay debts on behalf of the company.

She said in February 27, the bank notified them that an error was made and wished for them to return the money. When they attended the bank’s head office in Kingston on February 28, a meeting was held with the bank’s representatives. The police were called in after the meeting and they were locked up by the police.

“We are prepared to challenge these charges in the court as we know we are innocent,” Smith stated in the affidavit.

Shelly-Williams, in granting the women bail, ordered that they report to the Four Paths Police Station in Clarendon on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. A stop order has been placed on them and they are to surrender their travel documents.

The judge ordered that the vehicles and equipment, which are a Honda Vista, Honda Fit, Toyota Voxy, Toyota Probox, tipper truck, front end loader and backhoe, are not to be sold or any lien placed on them. The vehicles are to remain with the dealers until the conclusion of the case. No further transaction is to be done in relation to the excavator, the judge ordered.

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