Moulton White requests emails, recording of meeting

Alysia Moulton White’s defence team is now seeking to get their hands on information being held by Sagicor to clear her name of any involvement in a suspected $65-million racket uncovered at the bank’s Liguanea branch last October.

Attorney-at-law Matthew Hyatt requested copies of messages received in and sent from her company email account in 2021 and 2022 as well as a recording of a September 2022 Microsoft Teams meeting when the matter was mentioned in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Thursday.

Moulton White, the former vice-president of group marketing at Sagicor; her sister, Tricia Moulton, the bank’s former Liguanea branch manager; Malika McLeod, a personal banker; and Tishan Samuels, a client care officer, are facing fraud charges in connection with the multimillion-dollar fraud.

The funds were allegedly swindled from the accounts of clients between August and October 2022.

Moulton White was implicated in respect to $661,000, which was deposited into her account.

But her lawyers, Bert Samuels and Bianca Samuels, are contending that she is innocent.

Among the evidential material being pursued are the long-awaited video footage, which was being sought by the team to determine who deposited the funds into her account.

But in court on Thursday, Hyatt was informed that the footage had been received and would be disclosed.

Hyatt also requested a copy of the withdrawal slip that was used to withdraw a portion of the sum that had been deposited in her account.

Attorney-at-law representing Samuels, Rita Allen-Brown, also requested the unique transaction reference (UTR) reports for all transactions on September 29, 2022.

A similar request was made for copies of the transaction for the bank’s internal unposted account for July 29, 2022, as well as copies of the transaction for the bank’s internal treasury and suspense accounts for the duration of the alleged fraud.

The Financial Investigations Division report remains outstanding, the prosecution said.

Further in the proceedings, Allen-Brown and Valerie Neita Robertson both objected to a suggestion from the prosecution for a plea and case-management hearing on November 21, noting that full disclosure must first be made. Neita Robertson appeared for Tricia Moulton.

Peter Champagnie, KC, who is representing McLeod, further told the court that despite an earlier ruling for disclosure to be made by May 25, he had not received any documents.

Attorney-at-law Anne-Marie Fuertado-Richards, who will be prosecuting the matter on behalf of Sagicor, then indicated that she had seen evidence of disclosure but could not account for why the material had not been handed over to the defence.

Senior Parish Judge Lori-Anne Cole-Montaque subsequently ruled that partial disclosure be made, and a November 27 mention date was set.

Bail was also extended for the accused.

The women are accused of conspiring to defraud the US foreign currency accounts of a number of Sagicor customers.

Among the charges are conspiracy to defraud, larceny as a servant, breaches of the Cybercrimes Act, and making unauthorised withdrawals from customers’ accounts.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com