A 52-YEAR-OLD woodworker, serving time in jail for fraud, has been arrested and charged in connection with the theft of nearly $700,000 from a joint account operated by Governor-General Howard Cooke and his wife in Montego Bay.
On February 22, this year, Roderick Brown of Languard Avenue in Kingston 13, was charged with conspiracy to defraud, uttering forged document, and forgery. On Tuesday, Fraud Squad detectives and the Prosecution at the Ocho Rios Resident Magistrate's Court, St. Ann, applied for and were granted a writ of habeas corpus, to facilitate Brown's release from prison to face his charges.
Since the news broke in The Sunday Gleaner two weeks ago, The Gleaner understands that Detective Inspector Fitz Bailey is still investigating to find the persons who lodged the cheques and withdrew the money.
The accused man, who has been serving a one-year prison term under the name "Paul Brown", at the Tamarind Farm Prison in St. Catherine for uttering forged document, is to face the court on Tuesday, April 3.
On June 13, last year, Brown reportedly opened a savings account with a passport bearing the name "Vinel Clarke", at the Ocho Rios branch of Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) in St. Ann.
In January, several fraudulent cheques totalling $700,000 were lodged through a Kingston automated teller machine (ATM) to Brown's account there. The cheques, bearing signatures resembling those of Lady Cooke, were drawn against the Governor-General's joint account at the BNS Sam Sharpe Square branch in Montego Bay. The matter was reported to the police.
