Man's attorney tells court gambling leads to theft as he ...

GETS THREE YEARS

Gambling is said to have been the reason that led Julio Parkinson to defraud the Accountant General's Department of millions of dollars last year.

Parkinson, who pleaded guilty during a previous court appearance, was arrested and charged in connection with the fraud and was sentenced to three years imprisonment on Friday in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court.

Co-accused, Meisha Parkinson, Rameish Watson, Anthony Munroe, Kemar Lewis and Roxanne Crossdale had their bails extended. They return to court on April 22 when the matter will be mentioned.

In court, the allegations were laid out before Senior Resident Magistrate (RM) Judith Pusey.

Prosecutors alleged that Parkinson, who was employed to the Accountant General's Department, acted together with other persons and caused several bank accounts to be opened with several financial institutions in order to receive fraudulent pensions.

Twelve pension accounts, which were dormant for years, are said to have been reactivated. The accounts were reactivated to allow for pension payments to the tune of more than $21M to be made.

In his caution, Parkinson outlined how the fraud was effected and also admitted to producing fraudulent documents to facilitate the crime.

His attorney, in a plea in mitigation, told RM Pusey that his client was ashamed and placed himself at the mercy of the court. The attorney said Parkinson has a dangerous addiction called gambling.

The RM said though Parkinson owned up to the crime, none of the money was recovered.

"The court cannot and should not turn its eye away from the fact that no useful thing was done with the government's funds," she said as she passed sentence.