BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - FORMER Manager of the Port Zante-located Jewel Palace Amit ‘Alex’ Sahjwala was found guilty of embezzlement yesterday (June 24) by a 12-member jury.
The unanimous verdict was returned at about 3:40 p.m. after the jury deliberated for about 45 minutes.
After the verdict was read, His Lordship Justice Errol Thomas told Sahajwala, who is originally from India but resides in Taylors, that he would be remanded into custody and sentenced on Thursday, July 14.
The offence is said to have occurred sometime between December 2008 and March 9, 2009.
The case began on June 21 and the prosecution witnesses who gave evidence were two sales clerks of Jewel Palace, a general manager, two police officers, the manufacturer of KK Jewellers Inc. who owns Jewel Palace and Diamond Bazaar that are located at Port Zante, and a sales clerk from Diamond Bazaar.
The prosecution alleged that on March 9, 2009, police officers went to inquire about a report at Jewel Palace that was made by the manufacturer, Tulsi Kheskwani, who claimed that the accused had taken US$930 and EC$270 of the company’s money out of his pocket.
The prosecution also alleged that when the accused was told of the police inquiries he said he “only took EU$3 805”.
Sahajwala testified after the prosecution had rested its case and admitted to putting the money in his pocket. He said the reason for putting it there was because he was too busy to put it in the cash register and that he was concentrating on generating sales.
It was also brought into evidence that he sold one of the company’s cameras to an employee at the cost of EC$375 instead of EC$500.
The employee told the court that he advised her not to take the camera to work and not to let any of the other employees know about the transaction.
Sahajwala was represented by Senior Counsels Dr. Henry Browne and Hesketh Benjamin, while the Director of Public Prosecution, Paulina Hendrickson, was lead prosecutor in the matter.
