Reverend accused of stealing from church

Reverend accused of stealing from church

A reverend is now before the courts after he was accused of stealing over $10 million from his church. Pleading not guilty to fraud, obtaining money by means of forged cheque, forgery and uttering forged documents is 42-year-old Reverend Everton Emmiele Cunningham of an Emerald Estate, Huddersfield, St Mary, address.

It is alleged that the pastor received monies amounting to $10 million from the sale of land owned by the Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands to be placed in an escrow account, pending the completion of the sale of the land.

The monies were lodged to a bank account belonging to the church.

It was revealed that in order for monies to be withdrawn from the account, it would require the signatures of two attorneys of the church or the lone signature of the pastor.

When he was asked to hand over the $10 million by the complainant (the church), he allegedly did not.

Checks were made by the complainant with the other signatories at the Christ Church and the Bank of Nova Scotia, both in Christiana, Manchester, where it was revealed that Reverend Cunningham, without the church's permission, made several withdrawals from the account over the period October 2010 to March 2013, amounting to $10 million.

He was given two cheques, one dated November 25, 2012 for $4,000 and another dated November 22, 2013 for $8000, as travel allowances by the St. John Devine Alston Church, and it is alleged that he inflated the amounts on the cheques from $4000 to $40,000 and $8000 to $80,000.

Accountants at the church later discovered that the monies were drawn from their account that they could not account for and notified the bank, where they received copies of the cheques made out to the pastor.

He was subsequently arrested and charged.

The accused, however, denied the allegation, stating that he is not to be held responsible, as he was not the only person who had access to the account.

He is to return to court on February 3, when the case will again be mentioned. he is currently out on bail.