Former CMU President Professor Fritz Pinnock, former Education Minister Ruel Reid and three others are on trial for alleged fraud.
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Racquel Porter reports
A witness in the fraud trial involving former Caribbean Maritime University president Professor Fritz Pinnock has been questioned about a handwritten calculation on a document relating to payments for meals under an at-risk youth programme.
The document was among several presented in the Kingston & St. Andrew Parish Court.
Professor Pinnock is on trial alongside former Education Minister Ruel Reid, his wife Sharen, their daughter Sharelle and Jamaica Labour Party Councillor Kim Brown Lawrence.
The five face multiple fraud-related charges which arose from an alleged scheme to siphon more than $25 million in public funds from 2016 to 2019.
The witness identified seven sets of cheque payment vouchers dated between August 2018 and February 2019.
The vouchers, marked as Exhibit 16A, bore the signatures of the witness and Professor Pinnock.
The former CMU president's signature appeared beside the words 'authorised by' on a voucher relating to payments of $850,000 to one payee for meals provided under the programme in June and July 2018.
Six memoranda, dated August 2, 2018, and another dated February 26, 2018, instructing the payments, were also attached.
The documents indicated that meals were to be provided for 50 students, five days a week.
But a handwritten notation on the February 26, 2018, memorandum prompted further questions from the prosecution.
The witness identified the handwriting as his own and explained that the notation was based on discussions to support the payment.
It read: "50 students multiplied by five days, multiplied by four, equal one thousand meals."
He further explained that he had performed a calculation to justify the gross amount, the $575,000 also recorded on the document.
The witness said similar notations appeared on the other exhibits.
Earlier, nine additional sets of documents were tendered into evidence.
They included cheque payment vouchers dated between March 2018 and February 2019, bearing Professor Pinnock's signature authorising monthly payments of $450,000 to a second payee.
Memoranda dated February 24, 2018, instructing those payments, were also presented.
The trial continues on Monday.
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