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Banker accused of fraud gets $1.5 million bail
A Banker charged with breaches of the Securities Act, breaches of the Larceny Act and fraudulent conversion pleaded not guilty and was granted $1.5 million bail when he appeared in court yesterday.
Forty-eight-year-old Leroy Paul, from a Kingston 19 address, will return to court on October 31 for mention. As a condition to his bail, he is to surrender his travel documents. A stop order has also been placed on him.
The court heard that a second person has also been implicated in the matter but is yet to be charged. She is Joan Powell from a Cherry Drive, Kingston 8, address.
Allegations are that between September 3, 2007, and December 8, 2009, the Jamaica Union Conference, formerly known as the<span style="font-weight: bold"> West Indies Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventist, invested $313,782,233.30 and US$3,019,569.43 (J$259,682,934)</span> with Intertrade Finance Corporation Limited (IFC), a licensed securities dealer.
Further allegations are that upon maturing, a demand was made for an encashment of the said funds and to date the complainant has not received the monies.
The matter was subsequently reported to the police and the Financial Services Commission (FSC)
unlicensed dealer
Investigations later revealed that both accused are senior executives and directors of Intertrade Investment Company, an unlicensed securities dealer, and were deemed integral in the misappropriation of the client's funds.
It was also discovered that the funds were invested by the unlicensed company against the client's instructions.
Further investigations revealed that the funds were not accounted for on a list of client funds submitted to the FSC by IFC Limited.
The court heard that on August 3, Leroy Paul was arrested, however, the co-accused, Joan Powell, vacated her home on August 4 and all attempts to locate her have proven futile.
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