Paul Watson, a 46-year-old ex-Policeman of Zeeburg, West Coast Demerara, is again in hot water, as he was on Tuesday slapped with seven fraud-related charges for which he was granted bail in the sum of $1.3 million.
The father of two appeared before Magistrate Zamilla Ally-Sepaul at the Leonora Magistrate’s Court and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Police have said that between February and November 2019, Watson obtained $2,787,000 from Sharda Bramdeo by falsely pretending that he was a Police officer and was thus in a position to file a Notice of Appeal, knowing same to be false. On the four charges in this regard, he has been granted bail in the sum of $800,000, and the case has been adjourned to May 15.
He appeared before Principal Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Vreed-en-Hoop Magistrate’s Court to answer three similar charges, to which he pleaded not guilty. There he was granted bail in the sum of $500,000 and ordered to return to court on May 16.
This is not the first time Watson has been charged. Back in 2017 and 2021, he was charged with obtaining money from two men after claiming that he was in a position to get them a firearm licence.
In relation to the 2017 matter, the court was told that, in 2015, Govind Sundar, a businessman, had applied for a firearm licence and later received a call from Watson, who claimed that he was an Inspector and that the Police were investigating Sundar’s background. A few weeks late, Sundar reported, he received another call from Watson, this time telling him that he wanted $300,000 to process the application.
In 2021, Watson also collected $400,000 from the other person to process a firearm licence.