CMU third-party payments normal, says Witness

A former treasurer of the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) on Tuesday testified that Jamaica Labour Party councillor Kim Brown Lawrence was a third-party recipient of payments under contracts between the university and consultancy firm Optimum Customer Services Consultancy.

The evidence emerged during cross-examination in the multimillion-dollar fraud trial as King’s Counsel Oswest Senior-Smith questioned the former treasurer about CMU’s payment procedures and the circumstances under which suppliers could request that payments be made to third parties.

More than 60 documents, including cheque payment vouchers, have already been admitted into evidence, allegedly showing how former CMU President Professor Fritz Pinnock authorised millions of dollars in payments to Brown Lawrence, Devon McQueen, and at least four other persons for the provision of meals to students enrolled in a programme targeting at-risk young people.

CAP-YES project

The former executive identified the project as the Career Advancement Programme-Youth Employment Service (CAP-YES).

He testified that between 14 and 15 contractors supplied meals and other items to students enrolled in CAP-YES and that they were all paid in the same manner.

On the previous occasion, the witness acknowledged under cross-examination by Senior-Smith that although he could not vouch for the accuracy of a 12-page document showing the movement of funds into and out of a CMU account, Brown Lawrence’s name appeared as the payee on eight of its pages. Her name was among several other payees listed throughout the document.

Continuing his cross-examination on Tuesday, Senior-Smith took the witness through a series of documents, identified as exhibits 10A to 10L, which listed Brown Lawrence as the payee.

The documents included payment vouchers bearing the former treasurer’s signature, letters from Optimum to Dr Cornel Brown, then an assistant vice-president, and memoranda from Brown to the treasurer referring to a partnership between the consultancy and the university.

The letters were written by Optimum’s managing director, Joseph Martin, whom the witness said he had met in his capacity as treasurer.

The witness agreed that the documents reflected a partnership arrangement between Optimum and CMU and that Brown Lawrence was named as the recipient of the payments.

Senior-Smith then asked, “Would you agree with me that the payee, Kim Brown Lawrence, is a third party in relation to all the contracts between Optimum and CMU?”

“Yes,” the witness replied.

Senior-Smith further asked whether any of the documents contained payment instructions from Brown Lawrence herself. The witness agreed that they did not.

The defence attorney subsequently turned to CMU’s payment procedures, asking whether suppliers could request that payments be made to third parties.

“If vendors/suppliers wished for payment to be made to a third party, all that was necessary was for those instructions to be written?” Senior-Smith asked.

“That was normal,” the witness replied after earlier sharing that the instruction could either be written on the invoices or sent another way.

The witness explained that written contracts for the provision of goods and services to CMU would ordinarily be submitted to his department although they could come through the office of the president, the legal department, or another department.

The payment process, he said, did not necessarily follow a fixed sequence. He could approve a purchase requisition and instruct his accounting team to begin processing a payment.

He explained that approval of a purchase requisition involved assessing whether the university had the necessary cash flow and budgetary provisions to undertake the transaction.

Authorised signatories

Smith also questioned him about the authority of CMU’s authorised signatories, who had the final say on whether payments should be made.

The witness agreed that any two of four authorised signatories could approve payments from the university’s various bank accounts, including its canteen account.

Pinnock and Brown Lawrence are on trial in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court, alongside former Education Minister Ruel Reid, his wife Sharen, and their daughter Sharelle, on multiple fraud-related charges.

The charges stem from an alleged scheme to siphon more than $25 million in public funds through fictitious jobs, sham contracts, and bogus invoices between 2016 and 2019.

Meanwhile, Senior Parish Court Judge Sanchia Burrell directed the Crown to have its prosecutorial team make enquiries and obtain all outstanding material relevant to the case for disclosure to the defence by November 23.

The ruling came after defence counsel again raised concerns about the ongoing disclosure of material, describing the process as haphazard and untimely and arguing that it placed them at a disadvantage in preparing their cases.

The trial continues today.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com