By LAMECH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
ljohnson@tribunemedia.net
A WOMAN awaiting trial on stealing and laundering charges concerning theft of over $500,000 at the College of the Bahamas (COB) said she would submit an alibi to the Office of the Attorney General within 21 days.
Chimeka Gibbs, 39, returned before Magistrate Constance Delancy on Friday for the presentation of a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI) that would fast track her case to the Supreme Court for trial.
Magistrate Constance Delancy informed Gibbs of the contents of the VBI and her right to enter an alibi in court or in 21 days to the Office of the Attorney General.
Gibbs chose the latter. Her lawyer, Roberto Reckley, told the magistrate that the way the charges and particulars were vaguely formulated makes it nigh on impossible for any accused person to provide an alibi given the periods in which the alleged offences occurred.
The magistrate made a note of the complaint.
Gibbs is facing 20 counts of falsification of accounts, 16 counts of stealing by reason of employment, and four counts of laundering the proceeds of criminal conduct for her alleged actions between March, 2008, and October, 2015, as an employee at COB.
It is alleged that Gibbs stole over $500,000 from COB by reason of her employment at the institution. It is also alleged that she falsified numerous COB direct deposit files, the result of which purported to show that she was entitled to over $200,000 in salary payments.
It is also alleged that she laundered over $800,000 worth of funds to various local bank accounts - FirstCaribbean, Commonwealth Bank, RBC Finco and Scotiabank - between 2008 and 2015. According to court documents, Gibbs served as both a senior clerk and a human resources assistant at the college.
The accused is scheduled to appear in the Supreme Court on October 7 before Senior Justice Bernard Turner to receive a date for trial.
It is at her formal arraignment that she will be allowed to enter a plea to the charges.
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