A manager at Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL) Employees' Credit Union was denied bail when he appeared in court yesterday to answer a $50 million fraud charge.
Darren Singh, 35, of Claxton Bay, appeared before Magistrate Adrian Darmanie in the Port-of-Spain Tenth Court.
He is accused of using a fraudulent document to transfer a substantial sum from the organisation's Unit Trust Corporation (UTC) account to another account at Republic Bank's branch,Tropical Plaza, Point Lisas.
The charge did not indicate whether Singh was able to withdraw the money after the transfer or if the money had been recouped by the credit union.
The transfer allegedly took place on January 18, 2013. However, the Fraud Squad was only able to intervene late last year when the credit union discovered the discrepancy and reported it.
Singh was arrested late last week, spent the weekend in police custody before being brought to court yesterday.
His lawyer Candace Lopez attempted to secure bail for the father of five who, she said, was the sole breadwinner for his family.
"While I admit that my client may not be a perfect man, he has agreed to abide by all the conditions that will be placed by the court in granting bail," Lopez said as she assured Darmanie that her client would not abscond from future court appearances.
Lopez's application was met with opposition from court prosecutor Sgt Callistas Charles who objected on a number of grounds, including the seriousness of the offence, the amount involved and the strength of the State's case against Singh.
Charles also said the Fraud Squad was investigating allegations of threats being made to witnesses in the case.
Lopez disagreed with Charles's witness tampering allegation as she said that it was devoid of any evidence.
Nonetheless Darmanie eventually agreed with Charles.
He stated he would only feel comfortable in granting bail after he views Singh's criminal record which was not available during yesterday hearing.
Singh is also being represented by attorney Martin George. Lopez is expected to reapply for bail for Singh when he reappears in court tomorrow.