A former police sergeant of the Guyana’s Police Force was, yesterday (Friday, March 8, 2019) arraigned before Chief Magistrate Ann Mc Lennan, at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, on nine counts of fraud.

He was not required to plead to the indictable charges. The charges alleged that Tamesh Dhanraj, 35, of Lot 371 Hampton Court, Essequibo, with intent to de-fraud the Guyana Police Force by means of falsely pretending to conduct official duties for the force, took over $300,000 between the period September 15, 2017 to May 4, 2018 knowing same to be false.

Dhanraj was, at the time, the Finance Officer at the Anna Regina Police Station. According to Police Prosecutor, Neville Jeffers, around August 2018, Dhanraj was allegedly in charge of the finance office when an audit was conducted. This led to the uncovering of the alleged fraud.

Dhanraj was represented by Attorney-at-Law, Latchmie Rahamat who made an application for a reasonable bail. She noted that, prior to her client being arrested, he cooperated with the police to undergo investigations and denied the allegations made against him. The prosecutor objected to bail being granted on the grounds that, during the investigation, the accused had left Guyana without informing the relevant authorities.

The defendant was, at the time, still an employee of the Guyana Police Force. On January, 26 of this year he was dismissed. The prosecutor further noted that, based on information received, when Dhanraj returned to Guyana he was arrested. Dhanraj was granted bail in the sum of $25,000 on each charge. The matter was adjourned to March 13, 2019 at the Anna Regina Magistrate’s Court.