Judge calls for speedy completion of case-file in $17m HEART/NSTA fraud probe
Published:Monday | February 17, 2025 | 10:02 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
A St James judge has ordered the prosecution in the case of Simoes Ellis and Kevina Atkins, the two defendants in the ongoing $17-million HEART/NSTA Trust fraud case, to ensure that the case-file can avoid going into backlog.
Presiding parish judge Kaysha Grant-Pryce made the order yesterday when the case was briefly mentioned in the St James Parish Court after being informed that two statements are currently outstanding from the case-file.
“These are nice, easy matters to get started, so get them done. Do not let a matter like this go into backlog,” Grant-Pryce told the clerk of the court.
“Do not let this matter just sit and sit and not be done. This is a 2024 matter, so we need to get it done, and six months is a long time to get two outstanding statements.”
Ellis and Atkins, along with a third unidentified individual, were arrested and charged by detectives from the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency in November 2024, following targeted operations in Montego Bay, St James, and Portmore, St Catherine.
In the meantime, the court was told on Wednesday that several other statements had been collected and added to the case-file and that disclosure of the documents would be made to attorney-at-law Henry McCurdy, who is representing Ellis and Atkins.
Grant-Pryce subsequently set the case for mention on February 26 and extended Ellis and Atkins’ bails to that date while binding the investigating officer over to complete the file.
The judge also recommended that a representative from the HEART/NSTA Trust be present in court on the next date to determine whether mediation could be proposed in order to resolve the matter.
Atkins, of a Gregory Park address in Portmore, is charged with receiving stolen property, possession of criminal property, and conspiracy to defraud in relation to a portion of the $17 million, which, reportedly, was stolen from the HEART/NSTA Trust.
Ellis, of Salt Spring, St James, is charged with larceny as a servant, possession of criminal property, and conspiracy to defraud.
According to the allegations against the two defendants, between December 2018 and April 2019, Ellis prepared lists of participants to receive stipends under the HEART/NSTA Trust’s Youth Employment in Digital and Animation Industry programme.
Fictitious names were listed, and the funds linked to those names were diverted to his and Atkins’ bank accounts.
The anomalies were eventually detected by persons at the National Commercial Bank, leading to the fraud probe, which culminated in Ellis and Atkins being arrested and charged. They made their first court appearance on December 4 last year.