Former Cash Plus boss offered $15-million bail
Published:Wednesday | November 17, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
Carlos Hill, the former head of the failed investment scheme Cash Plus Ltd, appeared in the Home Circuit Court yesterday and was offered bail in the sum of $15 million with a surety.
He is facing a charge of fraudulently inducing persons to invest in Cash Plus.
The case will be tried by a jury and the maximum sentence for such an offence is seven years' imprisonment.
Supreme Court judge Horace Marsh granted Hill bail and ordered that, as a condition of his bail, he must report to the Organised Crime Investigation Division every Monday. He is to return to court on January 10 when the case will be mentioned.
Hill, who was on bail, had earlier appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court where he is charged jointly with his brother Bertram, and Peter Wilson, the former chief financial officer of Cash Plus.
Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Diahann Gordon-Harrison told the court that the director of public prosecutions (DPP) was entering a conditional nolle prosequi (no prosecution) in those three fraud-related cases. She said the DPP wants the greater offence to proceed first in the Home Circuit Court and after that it is expected that the other cases will proceed in the RM Court.
Carlos Hill was placed in custody and taken to the Home Circuit Court where Gordon-Harrison said the case was ready and a trial date could be set.
Defence lawyer Valerie Neita-Robertson told the court that she represented Bertram Hill in the RM Court. She said she would be appearing in the case with other lawyers but Hill needed time to make the necessary arrangements to prepare himself for the trial. She suggested a mention date because outstanding statements would have to be served on the defence.
Marsh has set the case for mention, to give Hill time to settle his legal representation.
The three were charged in April 2008 following the collapse of the investment scheme.
The Hill brothers and Wilson have been charged with obtaining money by false pretences, conspiracy to defraud and fraudulent conversion.