A 44-YEAR-OLD man was on Tuesday sentenced to 18 months imprisonment after pleading guilty to a fraudulent conversion charge.

Alex Persaud appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan to answer to the charge, which states that on October 26, 2018 at Puruni Landing in the Cuyuni River, while being a servant of David Young and entrusted with cash amounting to one million dollars, he fraudulently converted the money into his own use and benefit.
The man pleaded guilty to the charge. Police Prosecutor Simone Payne in presenting the facts, told the court that the defendant and victim are known to each other. On October 14, 2018, Young who operates a business at Bartica, sent one million dollars in fuel for the defendant to sell.

However, the defendant told the victim that fuel was not selling, On October 20, 2018 the victim contacted Persaud via cellphone and enquired whether the fuel was being sold to which the defendant replied with a yes. Young requested that Persaud send him the money and the defendant promised to do so using `Excel’, a company which is used to transfer money, but he never did. Young made subsequent efforts to reach Persaud through his cellphone were unsuccessful, as he reportedly refused to answer the calls. A report was made to the Bartica Police Station and he was arrested.