Don’t be quick to judge accused fraudsters, pastor cautions
Published:Monday | January 23, 2023 | 6:13 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
AMID OUTRAGE over reports of fraud at financial institutions, including a $3-billion scam at investment firm Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL), a St James pastor has warned against casting judgement too quickly on the accused perpetrators.
The Reverend Davewin Thomas, pastor of the Montego Bay-based Burchell Memorial Baptist Church, urged congregants to temper their rage about the prevalence of fraud even though they are puzzled by the operations of banks and brokerages.
“For the ethically and morally upright, sometimes they are never celebrated because they seem distant from the limelight of the corrupt. But there is a flip side to this, and that is that we have to pray for those persons,” Thomas said during his sermon at the annual Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) service held at Burchell Baptist Church on Sunday, kicking off a week of activities ahead of International Customs Day on January 26.
“Don’t always be very condemning, because we don’t know what will happen to us in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye. We are in church singing how Jesus loves us, and the next thing we know we are doing some things that we don’t know how we do it, how we got caught up in this wave of indiscipline and indecency.”
OTHER FRAUD SCHEMES
His admonition follows the announcement of a probe into the SSL fraud, which has affected more than 30 clients, include sports star Usain Bolt. The probe was launched after the fraud was reported to the Financial Services Commission on January 10 in the aftermath of a statement being taken from an implicated ex-employee on January 7.
Bolt himself is believed to have lost $2 billion.
Additional concerns about the safety of investments has been raised following the arrest and charge of a National Commercial Bank (NCB) wealth adviser a week ago in relation to a reported $21-million fraud scheme.
The defendant, Khadene Thomas, was remanded when she appeared in court on January 20, with her bail hearing set to continue on February 2.
That case follows a $65-million fraud probe of Sagicor Bank branch manager Tricia Moulton and personal banker Malika McLeod and similar allegations against then Vice-President of Marketing Alysia Moulton White for $661,000.
In another incident, a senior NCB employee, Arsenio Johnson, was nabbed by the Fraud Squad last July in relation to an alleged multimillion-dollar racket. And in May 2021, former NCB manager Andrea Gordon admitted to swindling $34-million from the bank and was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison.
However, In his sermon on Sunday, Thomas used the experience of the disciple Matthew, a former tax collector, as an example of how persons can change when their hearts are impacted by the power of God.
“You have certain accounts, and if you have less than US$100 in there, they take it. After a while, some of us make the mistake of having $90 in some banks, and when you go after a long time, you hear they take it for something else, and sometimes we wonder if they are not equal or worse than what Matthew used to do.
“But Matthew was touched and transformed by Jesus, and when we see this touch and transformation, we see wonderful, moral, gracious and sincere choices being made,” said Thomas.