NASSAU- A church youth pastor was jailed for two years on Friday for embezzling $258,000 from The Bahamas government.
James Anwar Johnson, 31, went to trial after rejecting a plea deal for five years in prison, plus repayment of the stolen money.
Prosecutors, however, can appeal the two-year sentence on the basis that it was unduly lenient.
Second suspect at large
Johnson, who worked as an accounts clerk at the Ministry of Finance, posted false requisitions that resulted in his aunt’s company, VMMS Business, being paid for work it didn’t do.
The owner of the company, Janica Deveaux, absconded and is being sought by police.
Johnson, of St Andrews Beach Estates, was convicted of falsification of accounts, stealing by reason of employment, and attempted stealing by reason of employment.
The company was contracted to train employees at the Department of Inland Revenue.
VMMS Business received $445,996.42 in unauthorized payments between November 2016 and April 2017 as a result of Johnson’s false entries, prosecutors alleged.
The company attempted to steal $41,115 on April 5, 2017. The theft was thwarted after Johnson’s supervisor discovered the false entry.
However, Magistrate Ambrose Armbrister found that prosecutors had only proven that Johnson had aided the theft of $258,000 and the attempted theft of $41,115.
The unauthorized payments were deposited into the business’s account at ScotiaBank.
Johnson wasn’t a signatory to the account. However, bank records showed that he received $30,000.
Johnson admitted the theft when confronted by his supervisor.
He also confessed during an interview with police.
At trial, however, Johnson claimed that his former lawyer had persuaded him to admit.
No repayment order
Magistrate Ambrose Armbrister also ordered Johnson to pay fines of $12,500 in order to avoid spending an extra two years in prison.
The Court rejected defense lawyer Bjorn Ferguson’s request for an order of repayment. Ferguson said some of the money had been recovered as a result of a freeze order against the VMMS’s account.
By contrast, prosecutor Terry Archer said the $40,000 balance could not cover the loss.
Magistrate Armbrister said that a repayment order would not deter others from stealing from the government. Additionally, he said he was unlikely Johnson had the means to repay the money.
Johnson, a youth pastor at Lighthouse Fellowship Church of God, will be transferred to prison on Monday. He was held at the Central Police Station over the weekend because the magistrate sentenced him after the prison stopped accepting new inmates.
