Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

Efforts are being made to get the required documentation organised for Cash Plus boss Carlos Hill to take up a $15 million bail offer on Monday.

Carlos Hill and his brother Bertram Hill, both of whom are facing fraud charges, were yesterday granted bail with very strict conditions following an application made in the Supreme Court this week.

Bertram Hill, who was granted bail in the sum of $10 million, was released from the Central Police Station lock-up after his bail papers were processed.

The Cash Plus boss, however, will spend the weekend behind bars at the Horizon Remand Centre because no one turned up to bail him up to late yesterday afternoon.

K. Churchill Neita, Carlos Hill's lawyer, told The Gleaner that recommendations and other required documents were being put in place to ensure that Hill takes up his bail at the earliest possible time.

Acting Supreme Court Judge Bertram Morrison granted Carlos Hill bail with one to three sureties while Bertram Hill was granted bail with one or two sureties.

Bail conditions

One of the bail conditions is that the Hill brothers are to be at home from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. daily. They are also to report to the police daily and surrender their travel documents.

They were arrested and charged on April 10 following complaints by some investors in the failed investment scheme, Cash Plus Ltd.

On April 17, the Hill brothers appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court and were remanded until May 14 while the company's chief financial officer Peter Wilson was granted bail in the sum of $5 million.

The police had asked the court not to grant the brothers bail on the basis that they were flight risks and would be in danger if they were released from jail.

Neita and Carlos Hill's other lawyer Jacqueline Samuels Brown as well as Valerie Neita-Robertson and Hugh Thompson, who represent Bertram Hill, applied to the Supreme Court for bail on the grounds that the men were entitled to bail under the Bail Act and the Constitution.

The lawyers pointed out that the men had been in custody for seven days before being brought before the court. The disclosure prompted the judge to query why the police took such a long time to bring the men before the court.

The Crown opposed bail at the hearing in chambers at the Supreme Court.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com