A scaffolder has been charged with larceny of close to a million dollars after a bank accidentally credited his account with over $32 million.
Joel Julien has been charged with larceny of $956,857.70 by Cpl (Ag) Cummings of the Fraud Squad and is expected to appear before a Port-of-Spain magistrate today.
Police say that during a reconciliation exercise conducted by a financial institution, it was discovered that a system error resulted in $32,347,308.55 being mistakenly credited to a personal account held at the institution.
It is alleged that during the period November 18, 2022 and December 1, 2022, the owner of the personal account withdrew sums totalling $825,000 in cash from various automated banking machines and conducted point-of-sale purchases totalling $131,357.70, together totalling $956,857.70.
Efforts by the financial institution to get a full refund of the money proved futile and a report was made to the Fraud Squad.
Following investigations into the matter, Fraud Squad officers under the supervision of Snr. Supt. Arlet Groome conducted an exercise which resulted in the arrest of a male suspect.
A total of $600,501 in cash was allegedly recovered at his home.
Julien was charged with the offence on Thursday.