49 documents remain to be assessed in Manchester MC fraud trial

Mandeville, Manchester:

The gruelling session of assessing documents, including invoices and vouchers submitted into evidence in the $400-million Manchester Municipal Corporation fraud trial continued yesterday in the Manchester Parish Court.

Of the 112 documents submitted into evidence, 63 have so far been assessed.

A former accounting clerk from the local authority was again placed on the stand yesterday to continue the assessment process, guided by the prosecution.

During the almost five-hour-long session, the clerk was asked to state the type of documents she was presented with, the system number, and identify whose signatures were affixed to them.

The clerk, who has been employed in the capacity at the corporation since 2001, is expected to retake the stand on Monday to continue assessing the remaining 49 documents.

Most of the documents submitted into evidence are from the period 2013 to 2016 and appear to bear the signatures of former temporary work overseer, Kendale Roberts; former deputy superintendent of roads and works, Sanjay Elliot; and herself.

The list of witnesses remain at 54 individuals, as the cases stretches into its second week. The prosecution theorised that the list could be trimmed to facilitate what should have initially been a two-week trial but is now shaping up to run for three or four weeks.

TESTIMONIES

It is expected that former deputy mayor of Mandeville, Ervin Facey, will take the stand on Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon. Former Mayor Brenda Ramsay has already testified.

The corporation was raided by the Financial Investigations Division (FID) and Major Organised Crime and Anti -Corruption Agency (MOCA) in 2016 after irregularities were discovered.

Reports are that several invoices, many in excess of $400,000, were submitted for work not done and were registered in the names of persons who were unaware that their identity was being used to validate the documents.

Elliot and Roberts are facing charges, along with former acting secretary-manager and director of finance, David Harris; former bank employee, Radcliffe McLean; employee of Elliot, Dwayne Sibbles; Elliott’s mother, Mrytle Elliot; father, Edwardo Elliott; and Sanjay’s wife, Tasha-Gaye Goulbourne Elliott.