Tuesday, August 28 2007

THIRTY-SIX year old St Lucian, Andy Boulogne, yesterday appeared in the Port-of-Spain First Magistrates’ Court on 11 fraud charges.

He is alleged to have fraudulently obtained thousands of dollars as down payments from more than 11 people for houses he would eventually not deliver. In total he is charged with swindling approximately $400,000.

Boulogne, the managing director of Green Heart Homes Trinidad Ltd (GH), stood in the prisoners’ dock before Magistrate Ejenny Espinet.

Boulogne, of Sunrise Apartments, Trincity, is alleged to have fraudulently obtained managers’ cheques valued between $30,000 to $37,000 from various persons in Woodbrook and Arouca during the period August 3, 2006 and August 22, 2007.

The cheques were all made payable to GH.

Boulogne and his Guyanese fiancee, Susan Stephens, jointly manage GH which is based at Warner Street, Newtown. They also have a company called ABDM Limited at Victoria Avenue, Eckles Village, Guyana.

The 11 charges each accuse Boulogne of procuring the cheques as down payments for houses he fraudulently claimed to be developing at a 250-acre housing estate at La Florissant D’Abadie Estate, D’Abadie. They allege that he had no such authority to develop land or construct houses at the Estate and that, as such, he had no authority to secure down-payments. All of this in contravention of Section 34 (1) of the Larceny Act.

Houses offered for sale for the project had price tags ranging from $300,000 to $350,000. Boulogne is alleged to have defrauded several persons, including: Keston Mc Clatchie, Colin Rolse, Sheldon Chaready, Denise Marcell, Darren Madeira, Natasha Gervais, Phyllissia Yearwood, Gerard Gordon, Beverly Dickson, Marcia Adams Murphy, Tracey Yeates and Geneille Rouse.

The charges were laid last Friday.

According to police, Boulogne was granted $300,000 bail on Saturday by a Justice of the Peace after being identified in an ID parade on Friday.

He was ordered by police on Saturday to surrender his passport, but it came to light in court yesterday that Boulogne holds more than one passport.

As such, Espinet varied his bail, ordering that he surrender all of his passports to the police. She also ordered that he visit the Arouca police station at specific times weekly, and that he keep a record of these visits for production in court.

The St Lucian national, who has been doing business in Trinidad and Tobago since 2004, was also ordered to return to court on September 13 to determine how long he can remain in the country given the fact that his CSME work permit is due to expire October 8.

He was represented in court yesterday by local attorneys Prakash Ramadhar and Jagdeo Singh.

Police confirmed yesterday that they are still investigating the matter.