UPDATE: MOCA names latest persons arrested in $222-m INSPORTS fraud
KINGSTON, Jamaica— An employee at the Institute of Sports (INSPORTS) is one of two people who were arrested and charged on Thursday by the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) in connection with the $222-million fraud racket committed between 2011 and 2017.
The suspects are Jonnique Mills and Andrea Picton, who have both been charged with conspiracy to defraud. Mills is facing an additional charge of forgery.
Mills was picked up at her home while Picton was arrested at INSPORTS where she was still an employee.
READ: Two more persons arrested in INSPORTS fraud
Thursday’s arrests bring to five the number of people who have been arrested and charged for allegedly defrauding the entity of over $222 million.
On Wednesday, MOCA announced that three people, including popular “Chug IT” and “French Connection” party promoter Andrew Wright, along with Rudolph Barnes and Oneil Hope, had been arrested in connection with the fraud.
READ: Party promoter implicated in $222-million INSPORTS fraud
Allegations are that the three men were part of a team of former employees of INSPORTS, who wrote, signed and encashed fraudulent cheques for payees who were neither employees nor contracted workers of the entity.
The suspected fraud and other irregularities were reportedly detected by INSPORTS in 2017 during an examination of their financial records. The matter was then reported to MOCA, triggering an investigation.
According to Major Basil Jarrett, director of Communications at MOCA Thursday’s operations were carried out with diligence, precision and professionalism, and demonstrates the agency’s commitment to bringing the perpetrators to justice.
He also warned persons involved in these activities to cease and desist as MOCA and its Jamaica Constabulary Force, Counter Terrorism & Organised Crime Investigations Branch (CTOC), Financial Investigations Division (FID) and Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) partners are committed to their mandate of detecting and prosecuting these illicit activities.
Jarrett is also reminding persons to continue to report instances of corruption and organized crime to MOCA’s newly created tip hotline, 888-MOCA-TIP.
