A high ranking bank employee who was charged with fraud is looking forward to his “best Christmas” in years after the prosecution dropped the case against him yesterday.

“After eight years it is going to be the best Christmas for a very long time,” Lowell Spence said after being acquitted in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court.

Spence, who was the regional manager for NCB Insurance Services Limited, was charged with money laundering, obtaining money by fraud, and conspiracy.

It was reported that in August 2007, Spence, who was the acting manager of the financial institution’s Annotto Bay branch, authorised two withdrawals from an account.

It was also reported then that the withdrawals were used to purchase two manager’s cheques for $2 million and $2.7 million payable to Cash Plus Limited and one Richard Johnson.

Investigators say the cheque for $2.7 million was lodged to a Cash Plus account belonging to Spence.

However, it was reported that Spence closed the account on November 1, 2007, and collected $3.6 million.

It was also alleged that Spence had created fictitious names to drain money from the institution.

The police were summoned following an internal audit.

The 44-year-old bank executive was suspended on December 7, 2009 and charged the following day.

“After eight years I am happy that it is over and justice has been served. I must give all credit to my attorney Mr [Bert] Samuels and his team for the hard work they put in for this day to be possible,” Spence said.

Spence pleaded not guilty to the charges in December 2009.

Spence, told the Jamaica Observer that the bank had indicated to him in a letter that if he is exonerated of the charges against him he would be returned to his duties without loss of pay.

With that said, Spence noted that he is awaiting his attorney’s directions before proceeding.

His attorney, while noting that the allegations has damaged his client’s reputation, said he will be taking advice from Spence to repair the damage.

Spence was freed after the Crown indicated that it was not in a position to continue the prosecution. No further evidence was offered.

Samuels explained that the case against his client collapsed as a result of prosecutorial misconduct.

“When Mr Dominique Duvale was in the box as a witness for the prosecution, the prosecutor, in seeking to refresh the witness’s memory on an issue, could not find the original of her statement. She asked for an adjournment to produce the statement. The defence had [a] photocopy of it. When the adjournment was given, she returned one week later… and said that she had found the original. We looked at it and found that it was not the original because there are 11 differences between what was photocopied and what she said was the original,” Samuels continued.

He explained that when the matter started in 2009, out of the 20 witnesses, 12 gave evidence.

“When she was asked by the court what happened, she said that the witness had signed in May of this year two original statements. When the witness went in the witness box and I was cross-examining him, he contradicted that and [said] he had just signed the other witness statement. It was never signed in May, and therefore I asked him, ‘Who told you to do this?’, and he said it was a bank official… who had told him to do this.

“Immediately, the DPP [Director of Public Prosecutions] intervened in the case and came up and apologised for the misstatement and the misleading of the court… The cross-examination continued and Ms Paula Llewellyn again had to come back, because it turned out that the statement was not in existence in May, as a result, the DPP came this morning and offered no further evidence against the accused,” Samuels added.

In court yesterday, DPP Llewellyn said that the credibility of the Crown’s case was damaged as a result of the unavailability of a critical witness.