Four charged in connection with fraud scheme targeting Sagicor Group
Published:Tuesday | December 17, 2024 | 8:57 AM
The Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) has charged the four people who were arrested in Monday's operations across Kingston and St Andrew in connection with an organised fraud scheme targeting Sagicor Group Jamaica Limited.
They are Michael Fenton of Trevennion Road, Kingston; Orlando Breakenridge of Rock Hall, St Andrew; Cebert Watt of Red Hills Road, Kingston; and Michael Douse of Studio One Boulevard.
They are all charged with conspiracy to defraud, possession of criminal property, receiving stolen property and engaging in a transaction involving criminal property.
Fenton is also charged with possession and dealing in ganja.
On Monday, MOCA agents and other law enforcers staged simultaneous operations across four locations in Kingston and St Andrew, in connection with an ongoing investigation into allegations of forgery and fraudulent payments involving contractors and employees of Sagicor.
Director of Communications at MOCA, Major Basil Jarrett, said the scheme is alleged to have taken place between 2016 and 2019.
He said it unravelled in April 2019 when Interim Payment Certificates (IPCs) and accompanying invoices were allegedly submitted to Sagicor Property Services by Fenton, the owner of M Fenton Construction Limited, for payment.
Jarrett said during processing it was discovered that the documents, including the signatures of authorised signing officers, had been forged.
MOCA's investigation into the matter later revealed an organised scheme involving contractors and employees of Sagicor Group, to defraud the company by submitting multiple IPCs and invoices for work purportedly completed at properties owned or managed by Sagicor Property Services. Payments were subsequently made based on the fraudulent documents.
All four men are to appear in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on December 20.
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