Loans officer facing fraud charges

A loans officer at one of the island's commercial banks pleaded not guilty to larceny offences on Tuesday when he appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court.

Charged with larceny as a servant, forgery and uttering forged documents is 27-year-old Jon-Ross Dela Motta. The court heard that some time ago, the complainant went to the Half-Way Tree branch of the bank, where he applied for a loan and was processed by the accused. Dela Motta advised the complainant that the processing fee was 3.5 per cent of the loan in addition to general consumption tax and stamp duty fee. The total amount to be paid was alleged to be $650,000.

On January 8, the complainant paid over the sum, in cash, to Dela Motta for the processing of the loan, but only received a receipt showing a deposit of $300,000 in his account. It is alleged that he did not receive a receipt for the remaining monies. Three days after, the complainant received a call that the loan was approved and that all the fees were paid. He then queried the percentage rate and was informed by a bank representative that it was two per cent of the loan fees. After further enquiry into his bank account, the complainant was informed that $142,800 was allegedly withdrawn.

Having heard the allegations, bail conditions were imposed by Senior Parish Judge Lori-Ann Cole-Montague. Dela Motta was ordered to surrender his travel documents and a stop order was effected at the country's airports. He is to report to the police once weekly and is to have no contact or communication with the complainant. He was made the subject of a fingerprint order and is to return to court on March 29 when the matter is to be mentioned. Attorney-at-law Patrick Peterkin, instructed by Valerie Neita-Robertson, Q.C., is representing Dela Motta.

T.T.