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John Baptiste leaving court |
Town Hall finances boss in dock on fraud charges
£500,000 taken from vulnerable residents' accounts, court is told
A TOWN Hall finance chief charged with swindling some of Camden’s most vulnerable residents out of nearly £500,000 has appeared in court for the first time.
John Walter Baptiste, 56, was told by a judge that the charges were so serious they would have to be heard in the crown court.
He did not enter a plea to three charges of dishonest money transfer during a six-minute hearing at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday afternoon.
Mr Baptiste stood in the dock wearing a dark suit, a grey shirt and tie, and clutching a rolled-up copy of the Daily Mail newspaper. As a packed public gallery looked on, he spoke only to confirm his name, address and date of birth.
He indicated that he understood the proceedings by nodding his head.
Mr Baptiste was first arrested in February but was not charged by fraud squad detectives based at Holborn police station until last month – a move that put his identity in the public domain for the first time.
The charges involve a series of accounts run by the Town Hall on behalf of elderly and mentally ill residents who are unable to look after their own finances.
Mr Baptiste was barracked and pursued along Holloway Road by placard-waving members of the public as he left court.
The protesters said they were upset at allegations of fraud in a department responsible for such sensitive accounts.
A woman in her 30s was also arrested in connection with the allegations but so far charges have not been brought against her.
District Judge James Henderson told Mr Baptiste on Tuesday that he must stay at his home in Sydenham, south London, until his next appearance in court. The defendant, who was born in the Caribbean island of Aruba, was also ordered to surrender his passport.
The case will resume at Highbury Corner on August 22 when lawyers will work out how much time needs to be allocated at crown court level. The case is then likely to be transferred to Snaresbrook Crown Court, where similar trials in recent years have taken place.
Mr Baptiste’s official title at Camden is personal services finance manager. He is thought to have had at least a decade’s council service.
During a brief case summary, prosecutor Katherine Iyer said the alleged offences had “amounted to nearly £500,000 over ten years by a man in public office”. |
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