Five found guilty in $400m Manchester fraud case
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The article reports convictions of senior employees in a $400-million Manchester Municipal Corporation fraud case involving conspiracy to defraud a local government authority and breaches of the Corruption Prevention Act. It directly concerns misuse of public funds and criminal accountability of Jamaican public officials and related persons.
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KINGSTON, Jamaica — Five of seven defendants in the $400-million Manchester Municipal Corporation fraud case, were this afternoon found guilty in the Manchester Parish Court.
Senior employees at the corporation Sanja Elliot, David Harris, Kendale Roberts and Dwayne Sibbles were convicted of conspiracy to defraud the local government authority.
They were also found guilty of breaching the country’s Corruption Prevention Act.
The judgement was handed down by Senior Parish Judge Ann-Marie Grainger in an historic live streaming from the James Warehouse Plaza, Mandeville town centre, which was also transmitted on the Ministry of Justice’s website.
Sanja Elliot’s wife, TashaGaye Goulbourne Elliott was also found guilty of facilitating the retention of criminal property.
Meanwhile, Elliot’s mother and bank teller Radcliffe McLean were freed of charges.
Harris, Sibbles, Roberts, Elliot and Elliot’s wife are to be sentenced on July 27 this year.
The Crown said that between 2013 and 2016, the Manchester Municipal Corporation was fleeced of public funds amounting to $400 million in a conspiracy involving the individuals who were today found guilty.
The scheme allegedly began with the siphoning off of $10 million from the corporation from early of 2014 and the end of 2016.
The bail of all five has been extended.
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