The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

FORMER College of The Bahamas employee Chimeka Gibbs took home just over $600,000 in extra payroll deposits from 2009 to 2015, Supreme Court jurors heard yesterday.

Davine Rolle, loss prevention and investigations manager at the Bank of The Bahamas (BOB), said Gibbs netted a total of $786,242.96 in extra payroll deposits from May 2009 to October 2015, though she was only due a total of $179,411.92 in net wages for that period.

That made for a difference of $606,831.04.

Ms Rolle also said that between May 2009 and October 2015, the yearly total amount of misappropriated COB funds ranged between $51,097.15 to $116,545.42 in 2014. A total of $106,468.68 was misappropriated in 2015, she said.

According to Ms Rolle, the various payments went to Gibbs’ accounts situated in four banks in particular, namely Scotiabank, Commonwealth Bank, First Caribbean, and later Royal Bank of Canada in May of 2014.

Ms Rolle said according to BOB’s final analysis, in one instance in May of 2009, Gibbs received a total of $9,676.61 in extra payroll deposits to her FCIB, Scotiabank and CB accounts, despite being due just $2,145.73 in net wages.

In October of 2015, a total of $13,264.10 was deposited to her four bank accounts, though she was only due to receive $2,395.74 in net wages. That made for a difference of $10,868.36.

According to Ms Rolle, BOB would have previously received information of an “abnormality” in COB’s payroll file. A conversation was subsequently held with COB representatives who gave BOB the green light to investigate the matter.

That investigation saw BOB officials pull all of COB’s payroll files from May of 2009 to October of 2015 with the exception of June of 2010, which Ms Rolle said officials were unable to locate.

Nonetheless, Ms Roll said BOB officials focused on information pertaining to Gibbs because that’s where the “abnormality” occurred. They consequently found she received $786,000 plus in extra payroll deposits between those six years.

The BOB officials subsequently compiled all of their findings on a CD, which was then provided to COB officials as well as the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF).

Explaining COB’s payroll deposit process, Ms Rolle said the institution would send a payroll file, which would be accompanied by a letter signed by COB’s vice president and the vice president for finance.

The payroll file, which contains various employee names, their bank information and the amount due them, would then be sent to a clearing system to satisfy the payroll bank that was noted on the payroll file.

She said BOB simply takes the payroll file and puts it on a “gateway” where it is uploaded. The Bahamas Automated Clearing House receives it, and it is then sent to various banks.

During cross examination, defence attorney Roger Gomez Jr questioned Ms Rolle on the payroll deposit process, particularly on whether BOB, which she said is audited every year, checks for abnormalities like the ones she said were contained in COB’s payroll file.

In response, Ms Rolle said BOB makes it clear to its customers that they are responsible for ensuring their file details are correct. In this instance, she suggested it was not the bank’s duty to essentially audit COB’s payroll file once they received it.

Gibbs is on trial before Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars between March 2008 and October 2015 while employed at COB.

She is facing eight counts of stealing by reason of employment and 16 counts of falsification of accounts.

It is alleged Gibbs stole over $500,000 from COB by reason of her employment at the institution. It is also alleged she falsified numerous COB direct deposit files, the result of which purported to show she was entitled to over $200,000 in salary payments.

According to court documents, Gibbs served as both a senior clerk and a human resources assistant at the college. She was arraigned in June 2016. COB transitioned into a university later that year.

In addition to Mr Gomez, Al-Leecia Delancey and Antania Rolle-Taylor are the other attorneys on record, representing the Crown.

The trial continues.