Another female officer joins Matthew and George in new round of arrests and charges related to Customs Department probe
A second female Customs Officer – along with brokers Rowan Matthew and Foston George – has been charged in relation to the ongoing probe at the Customs Department.
Jeanette Browne joins her co-worker, Joezine Christian, as an accused in this alleged conspiracy at their workplace.
According to reports, the Police arrested and charged the trio this week and took them before Chief Magistrate Joanne Walsh this morning, Friday, September 23, on a day that normally sees low traffic in the Court.
Browne, Matthew and George are jointly charged with conspiracy to defraud and fraudulent conversion. On the other hand, Matthew and George face additional charges of obtaining by false pretenses and making a false declaration to Customs.
Matthew and George are already on bail, granted by a High Court Judge on Carnival Monday, August 1, a public holiday.
Accordingly, Chief Magistrate Walsh decided that – as a matter of continuity – both men should make their bail applications in the High Court, and so they were remanded to His Majesty’s Prison.
Browne, however, was granted bail in the sum of $10,000, with a cash deposit of $2,500 and two sureties.
The Court also ordered that she surrender her travel document and report to the Coolidge Police Station every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
Committal proceedings are set for November 14, 2022.
Matthew and George, along with Christian, were previously arrested on Friday, July 29, and charged with conspiracy to defraud. The men were also charged for obtaining money by false pretense.
Christian faces two additional charges of corruption in public office and cheating the public revenue.
Those charges relate to over $25,000 in Customs revenues, which Prime Minister Gaston Browne earlier revealed had been misappropriated.
Browne said, then, that millions of dollars had been siphoned from the Customs Department, during which operation his signature allegedly had been forged.
