KINGSTON, Jamaica – Accounting technician at the Accountant General’s Department (AGD) Julio Parkinson, 35, on Friday pleaded guilty to 44 counts of obtaining money by false pretense at the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court.

He is to be sentenced on March 6.

The prosecution today withdrew the money laundering charge, but Parkinson will answer to the other charges.

The AGD employee and his four co-accused reportedly defrauded the Government agency of $21.7 million in a dead claims scam.

The other accused men, Kemar Lewis, Rameish Watson, Anthony Monroe, and Troy Blythe, are scheduled to reappear on the date of sentencing.

Allegations were that between February and October of last year, Parkinson, allegedly in collusion with the four men, opened accounts at Scotiabank branches across the Corporate Area. Watson, it is alleged, created certificates in the names of pensioners who were deceased and $21.7 million was paid out to the various accounts.