WESTERN BUREAU:
WINSTON CHUE, the second "partner plan" operator to be arrested in Montego Bay, is to return to the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court today, when his case will be mentioned.
Chue, who operated the "Fast Cash Partner Plan", was offered $40,000 bail with a surety and ordered fingerprinted when he was taken before the court on April 9 after pleading not guilty to two counts of fraudulent conversion.
Resident Magistrate Paulette Williams had granted bail to the 31-year-old Chue on condition that persons who had invested in the plan would be reimbursed their deposits and "not dividends," by the time the case came up for mention again.
The court was told that Mr. Chue had collected a total of $31,000 from two investors, Fredrick Vassell and Derron Kerr, but was not able to repay them with dividends as he had promised.
In his application for bail, attorney Victor Robinson, who represented Chue, told the court that his client was himself a victim of the failed partner plan, but said that every effort would be made to repay the money he had collected.
The lawyer told the court that his client had gone to the police the previous Tuesday with the explanation that he had lost deposits given to him in the "Speedy Cash Plan" operated by Esmie Jones, who is also before the court on fraud charges.
Mr. Robinson compared Mr. Chue's actions to that of insurance companies who "reinsured" with other companies but said this time the plan did not work out. Mr. Robinson said it was his opinion that the charges of fraudulent conversion would be difficult to prove.
Mrs. Jones is awaiting a legal-aid lawyer to be assigned to her, having told the court on Thursday that she could not afford a lawyer.
The 63-year-old retired school teacher who reportedly cannot account for $100 million she took from depositors, told Resident Magistrate Paulette Williams that she had spoken to a Kingston-based lawyer about representing her, but could not afford his fees.
Mrs. Jones told the court that she had heard that the lawyer was asking her brother to pay about $1.2 million which was much more than he could afford.
The RM advised her that if she could not afford a lawyer, she would be interviewed to see whether she qualified to get legal aid. If not, the Magistrate said, she would have to retain one.
Mrs. Jones was ordered remanded in custody and her bail extended to May 3.
Lambert Johnson, Crown Counsel in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, who appeared for the Crown, told the court that "much more remains to be done" before Jones's file could be completed, and as such he asked for another mention date.
Mrs. Jones was taken to court under heavy police guard. At least 20 heavily armed members of the Police Mobile Reserve took up positions around the court building before the start of the sitting.
Several dozen curious onlookers milled around the court building but no disturbances were reported.
Mrs. Jones had pleaded guilty to several counts of fraudulent conversion when she first appeared in court on April 4 but the Magistrate had rejected her plea until an attorney had advised her.
