It took #4 Court Magistrate Sharon Fraser over an hour on Friday to read 160 charges to Alex Reid, 19, a former office assistant of the Christian Workers Union (CWU), who is accused of forging and cashing 40 cheques amounting to $18, 450 against the union’s account at First Caribbean Bank between March 9 and June 27, 2007.
Reid was charged with 40 counts of forgery, 40 counts of uttering a false document, 40 counts of claiming upon a forged document and 40 counts of possession of a false document. Magistrate Fraser did not take any pleas from him because the Director of Public Prosecutions, Latchman Sooknandan, has to decide if the offences will be tried summarily or on indictment.
The prosecution objected to bail on the grounds that the matter is still under investigation, that the police are trying to recover some of the missing money and that if the defendant is granted bail, he may interfere with the investigation.
When asked by Magistrate Fraser why he should be granted bail, Reid said that he was sorry for what he did and that he did not want to go to jail. Magistrate Fraser said she will not deny him bail, but she told Reid that she would set a bail that would reflect the seriousness of the offences.
She offered Reid a bail of $25,000 and told him to return to court on October 8. Reid was unable to meet bail so he was taken to prison.
Reid allegedly committed the offences when he was working as the office assistant of CWU. Police believe that he forged the signatures of three persons required on the CWU cheques, among them the signatures of president, Antonio Gonzalez, and the general secretary, James Mcfoy.
The money was discovered missing in late June when First Caribbean Bank informed the CWU that it did not have enough money in its account for cheques it had written.