THREE former Republic Bank tellers and two other men were yesterday charged jointly on several counts of conspiracy when they appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson.

The defendants are Wilford Machado, 19, of Lot 12 Paradise, East Coast Demerara; Steven Gangadeen, 18, of Lot 165 Grove Housing Scheme, Deodat Narine, 21, the fired tellers and Sasenarine Rampersaud, 22, both of Lot 199 and Manniram Beharry, 38, of Lot 153, also of Grove, all on East Bank Demerara.

They all pleaded not guilty.
The allegations against them are that:
* between April 29 and May 7, with intent to defraud, Machado,

Gangadeen, Narine and Rampersaud conspired together to obtain

$50,000 from a savings account at the bank, by forging a withdrawal slip;

* between April 30 and May 2, with intent to defraud, the same defendants conspired together to obtain $200,000 from a savings account at the bank, by forging a withdrawal slip;

* on May 6, with intent to defraud Machado, Gangadeen and Narine, conspired together to obtain $50,000 from a savings account, by forging another withdrawal slip;

* on May 4, with intent to defraud, they also conspired together to obtain $200,000 from a savings account, by forging one more withdrawal slip;

* on May 8, with intent to defraud, Machado, Gangadeen, Narine and Beharry conspired together with unknown persons to obtain $200,000 from a savings account, by forging yet another withdrawal slip;

* on May 11, with intent to defraud. Machado, Gangadeen and Narine conspired together to obtain $200,000 from a savings account, by forging one other withdrawal slip;

* on April 24, with intent to defraud, the trio conspired together to similarly obtain $200,000 from a savings account at the bank and

* on May 7, the trio again conspired together to get $50,000 from a saving account at the bank through a similar forgery.

Attorney-at-law Ms. Mishka Puran appeared for Machado and Gangadeen while colleague, Ms. Tanya Warren represented the others.

Puran said her clients were put on $50,000 station bail following accusations surrounding a series of transactions and Police coaxed them into signing statements.

The lawyer said the three former bank tellers’ mothers have already paid $1.1M to the bank to avoid further embarrassment.

Police Inspector Denise Griffith, prosecuting, had no objection to pre-trial freedom for the defendants but said the depositions were given before any money was repaid.

The Prosecutor said she did not receive any indication from the bank stating that it is willing to withdraw the prosecution.

Consequently, the ex-tellers were ordered to each lodge $680,000 surety, Beharry $85,000 and Rampersaud $170,000.
The cases will be called again on June 24.