NEARLY two years after their arrests, two former Caymanas Track Limited (CTL) employees have gone on trial for their alleged roles in a multimillion- dollar credit card scam uncovered at Caymanas Park in September 2001.
Mavis Bugrage, 34, a terminal operator at CTL, and Kenneth McLachlan, 68, her supervisor, were arrested in September 2001, following police investigations into a scam which involved the use of fake credit cards from the United Kingdom to purchase bets and take large amounts of cash from CTL.
Police investigations indicated that CTL had been defrauded of almost $3 million. Both suspects were charged with conspiracy to defraud.
At last Friday's trial, CTL security boss Jason McKay of Mckay Security and Courier Sevices gave evidence, testified how he deployed personnel to assist National Commercial Bank (NCB) investigators, leading to a sting operation which nabbed Bugrage and McLachlan.
During McKay's testimony, defence attorney Ian Wilkinson questioned the resident security consultant's qualifications as an investigator but was visibly taken aback when the security boss reeled out his credentials, which included training at Miami's Metropolitan Police Institute.
According to the investigations, a set of credit cards, some from the Bank of Scotland, and others from the Prudential Bank of England, were brought to the North Lounge at Caymanas Park and used to facilitate cash advances.
The police say between May and September 2001 the cards were used to collect $2.8 million from CTL. Cash advances were made up to a maximum of $50,000.
The NCB Credit Card Centre noticed the withdrawls and recognised a name on the card as that of an English woman who had been arrested by the police in Ocho Rios, St. Ann, for attempting to use a similar card to buy jewellery.
The police were summoned and following investigations the two were arrested.
