A former CIBC First Caribbean International Bank employee was charged in Magistrates Court yesterday of defrauding Bahamas Power and Light (BPL).
After a brief delay of moving from court number 7 to court number 1, the arraignment of 34 year old Reno Laterio Bethel of Ottawa, Canada took place.
Appearing before Magistrate Samuel McKinney, the accused faced a total of 93 counts of fraud of Bahamas Power and Light.
Bethel was charged with 35 counts of possession of forged documents, 35 counts of uttering a forged document, 18 counts of fraud by false pretenses, and three counts of money laundering. He is accused of changing Bahamian Dollars into US Dollars and Canadian Dollars and two counts of attempted fraud by false pretenses.
Queens Counsel Wayne Munroe, representing Reno Bethel told the Judge that he was surprised to learn that there was a warrant out for his client’s arrest as last week Wednesday. He said his client came to court of his own volition to wait for his trial to commence, but it never did, as there was no witness for the prosecution, Mr. Munroe indicated.
The lawyer also pointed out that his client freely turned himself in to authorities on Monday.
Bethel pleaded not guilty to all 93 charges. He was denied bail and was remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correction Services until his trial commences on March 26th and March 27th 2018.
Bethel has a right to apply to the Supreme Court for bail before that date.
