February 12, 2025
Accused in multi-million dollar HEART/NSTA fraud case returns to court on February 26
ST JAMES, Jamaica — The two people charged in connection with a multi-million dollar fraud at the Human Employment and Resources Training/National Services Training Agency Trust (HEART/NSTA) in November 2024 were given a return date of February 26.
The date was set when a former participant in a HEART/NSTA Trust programme, 28-year-old Kevina Atkins and former HEART/NSTA Trust employee, Simoes Ellis appeared in the St James Parish Court on Wednesday.
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Atkins’ bail in the amount of $600,000 and Ellis’ bail in the amount of $1 million were also extended.
READ: Accused in multi-million dollar HEART/NSTA fraud case granted bail
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When the case was called, Parish Judge Kaysha Grant-Pryce was informed that statements remained outstanding.
When the case was first called on December 4, the court was told that several outstanding documents, including the arresting officer’s statement and two witness statements, were to be added to the case file for Wednesday’s hearing.
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Atkins of Flanker, St James, was charged with receiving stolen property, possession of criminal property and conspiracy to defraud, while Ellis, who is from Gregory Park in Portmore, was charged with larceny as a servant, possession of criminal property and conspiracy.
Allegations are that, between December 2018 and April 2019, anomalies were seen in respect of stipends that were paid to fictitious names under the Youth Employment in Digital and Animation Industries (YEDAI) Project.
While more than $ 17 million was defrauded from the entity, court documents indicated that the two are responsible for approximately $4,961,500.
Court documents also indicated that Ellis was responsible for preparing the list of participants entitled to stipends and sending this information to the HEART/NSTA head office, where the necessary information would be sent to the bank for payments to be discussed.
However, the National Commercial Bank (NCB) noticed that multiple funds had been sent to one particular account. This caused the bank to become suspicious and make contact with personnel at HEART.
Checks were made and it was noticed that funds had been sent to a certain set of participants on a list prepared by Ellis.
The report also showed that funds were sent to Atkins’s account.
— Anthony Lewis
