MOCA boasts successful series of financial crime convictions
Published:Friday | August 9, 2024 | 12:13 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
The Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) is basking in a string of recent convictions for financial crimes, including that of an employee who stole more than $800,000 from a Ministry of Labour and Social Security aid programme.
Alvira Campbell was recently found guilty of larceny as a servant and money laundering and is to be sentenced on August 20 in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court.
She was also ordered to pay $807,500 in restitution.
An accountant, Goldston Cranston, who attempted to defraud the Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ), of $16.5 million in a false bond, was also found guilty of uttering forged documents and will be sentenced on August 21.
Similarly, he was ordered to pay $830,000 in restitution.
In yet another case, Nickeisha Lewis, who was arrested for lottery scamming, pleaded guilty to two counts of facilitating the acquisition of criminal property and engaging in a transaction involving criminal property under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) and was sentenced to two years imprisonment, suspended for two years.
The sentence was handed down by the Home Circuit Court, which also ordered her to pay $100,000 or serve three days in prison.
FUNDS FOR PERSONAL USE
In Campbell’s case, MOCA’s investigation revealed that between January 2014 and November 2017, she exploited her position to illegally obtain a total of $807,500.
The funds were used to cover tuition fees for herself at the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean and for her son at the Mico Foundation.
She was arrested on January 13, 2022, following a search of her residence, which led to the seizure of several items.
In the other case, an investigation by MOCA unearthed that Cranston fraudulently prepared a $16.5-million bond to deceive the housing agency.
Reports were that the HAJ engaged construction company Complant Limited in 2017 to build an apartment complex in St Ann.
The project was subcontracted to Elegant Estates Limited, which was required to submit a performance bond in favour of the HAJ.
The director of Elegant Estates Limited, Garfield Daley, reportedly, hired Cranston to procure two performance bonds on his behalf.
According to MOCA, one of these bonds was in the sum of $16,497,000 and the other $5,493,020.
The agency further reported that in seeking to authenticate the bonds, the HAJ discovered that while the bond for the smaller sum was authentic, the performance bond for the larger amount was fraudulent.
In a press release on Thursday, MOCA highlighted that it has steadily established a reputation for bringing successful prosecutions to court and that its track record for success continued as the agency secured guilty verdicts in several court proceedings involving significant cases of financial crimes and corruption.
Major Basil Jarrett, director of communications at MOCA, said, “These convictions have served to not only bolster the agency’s reputation for putting strong cases before the courts, but also underline MOCA’s commitment to combating organised crime and corruption, ensuring that justice is served and maintaining the integrity of Jamaica’s financial systems.”
He further expressed gratitude to the public for its continued support and encouraged anyone with information on corruption and financial and other organised crime to call the agency’s anonymous and confidential tip line, 888-MOCA-TIP, and report what they know.