Chimeka Gibbs at a previous court appearance. Photo: Tim Clarke/Tribune Staff
By NICO SCAVELLA
Tribune Staff Reporter
nscavella@tribunemedia.net
FORMER College of the Bahamas employee Chimeka Gibbs received nearly $270,000 in COB salary deposits to her savings account at CIBC FirstCaribbean bank between 2008 and 2015, Supreme Court jurors heard yesterday.
Kim Thurston, manager of CIBC First Caribbean's Local Processing Centre, testified before Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson that Gibbs received a total of $269,726.20 from December 2008 to October 2015 to an account in her name at that bank.
According to Ms Thurston, Gibbs' CIBC FCIB account received the most salary deposits in 2013, when she netted $45,490.82. The next highest amount she received came a year later when she received $40,461.21.
Gibbs received a total of $39,470.61 in COB salary deposits in 2011, the same year she was confirmed via a COB job letter as having an annual salary of $32,210 for serving as a human resources assistant. The job letter was dated May 24 of that year.
Yesterday also saw brief testimonies from two other senior CIBC FCIB officials, namely Andrew Hanna, senior manager of the bank's data centre operations, and Jacqueline Longley, a customs services manager at the bank's Harbour Bay location.
Gibbs is on trial accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars between March 2008 and October 2015 while serving as an employee at COB.
She is facing eight counts of stealing by reason of employment and 16 counts of falsification of accounts.
It is alleged that 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.
Roger Gomez Jr represents Gibbs while Al-Leecia Delancey and Antania Rolle-Taylor represent the Crown.
The trial continues.
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