APNU/AFC Councillors arrested for million dollar fraud at MARDS

The Commander of ‘C’ Division, Marlon Chapman has confirmed that two representatives of the governing Coalition were taken into custody for questioning into allegations of fraud.

The allegations of fraud were made out against Abel Seetaram and Carol Joseph by the Mahaicony Abary Rice Development Scheme (MARDS).

Both Seetaram and Joseph are Councillors of A Partnership for National Unity/ Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) on the Region five Democratic Council.

Although the Divisional Commander refused to disclose further details on the matter, he told the News Room that investigations are ongoing and more persons are likely to be taken into custody for questioning in relation to the matter.

Meanwhile, this News entity was informed that one of the officials who sat on the MARDS board wrote three cheques on behalf of MARDS and deposited them into a personal account.

The News Room was told that the cheques value $1M, $500,000 and $200,000 respectively, and were withdrawn from MARDS account with the intention to repair a vehicle belonging to the Ministry of Presidency. However, the money was never used for that purpose.

The two APNU/AFC officials are presently on station bail at the Mahaicony Police Station and were given a date to return to the station as investigations continue.