The two foreigners appeared before a Port-of-Spain magistrate yesterday, less than a week after two other Bulgarian nationals were arrested and charged with similar offences.
Daniel Nedelchev and Emil Mihalev appeared before Magistrate Christine Charles in the Port-of-Spain Magistrate’s Court charged with tampering with a Republic Bank Ltd (RBL) automatic banking machine (ABM) in Maraval and for possession card skimming equipment.
The duo’s court appearance came less than a week after Dimitar Georgiev, 47, and Toncho Tonchev, 22, appeared in court on similar charges arising out of a separate incident last week at another RBL ABM at Piarco Plaza.
Nedelchev and Mihalev pleaded not guilty to the charges and were remanded into custody as their Interpol criminal tracing was not available.
However, their attorney Stacy Mc Sween said that because of the language barrier she was unable to explain the charges to her clients, who may eventually want to change their pleas.
During the hearing before Charles, officers of the Fraud Squad brought a translator from St Lucia who was hired to work on Georgiev and Tonchev’s case.
The translator, Ruth Jones, was in court for that hearing as there was a mix-up with the date for Georgiev and Tonchev’s reappearance.
Police prosecutors informed Charles that the translator would not be able to be present for Georgiev and Tonchev’s hearing which was scheduled before another magistrate as she was due to return to St Lucia yesterday evening.
Prosecutors also expressed difficulties in hiring Jones for future hearings of the case as they said that there was no procedure for retaining a translator from abroad and the Fraud Squad was bearing the cost with a limited budget.
While Jones offered to stay in Trinidad to facilitate both cases, police prosecutors said she could not as she had a return flight booked for yesterday evening and that the police could not provide extended accommodation.
Jones’ unavailability is almost certain to cause the adjournment of Georgiev and Tonchev’s case as magistrate Cheron Raphael refused to even read the charges against them without a translator present during their appearance in court last week.
Georgiev and Tonchev expressed a similar desire to plead guilty to the charges but Raphael said she could not accept the plea without a translator being present.
Charles said that she would make enquires with the court’s administrative staff to determine if a translator could be sourced from the University of the West Indies.
“There is no guarantee that the court would be successful but we must live in hope,” Charles said.
Nedelchev and Mihalev are accused of maliciously causing $2,092.50 damage to RBL machine in Maraval, stealing a keypad from the machine valued at $1,575 and for being in possession of bank card skimming equipment. The incident allegedly occurred on June 25 and the men were arrested the following day at a guest house in St Ann’s.
Charles adjourned the case to next Monday to give Mc Sween sufficient time to get detailed instructions from her clients and for the police to produce the criminal background tracing.
