Accountant Charged in Dangriga Fraud Scandal

It’s a case of white-collar crime that’s rocked a well-known business in Dangriga. Jenny Zabaneh of Maya King Limited has reported a serious case of financial fraud, missing funds and forged checks that have now led to criminal charges. After a police investigation, authorities have arrested Nasley Somerville, an accountant for Mid-South Investment Limited, who is now facing charges of theft and forgery. Investigators believe fraudulent transactions happened over the past week and involve several thousand dollars. A routine cheque deposit turned into a full-blown fraud investigation at a Dangriga-based company. Jenny Zabaneh of Maya King Limited told police that on July twenty-third, she issued a ten-thousand-dollar cheque to Meridian Enterprise Limited, signed it, snapped a photo for her records, and handed it over to accountant Nasley Somerville for deposit. But when she later checked the bank’s online portal, something didn’t add up. A different cheque number had been deposited; one she hadn’t signed. Digging deeper, Zabaneh noticed a troubling pattern: while her records showed cheques in the four hundred-series, the bank was processing cheques from a two hundred-series she didn’t authorize. That’s when it became clear, Somerville had allegedly been using two separate cheque books and forging signatures on the unauthorized one. A police search of her office turned up both cheque books and the original cheque, all now in evidence. Somerville, a resident of Pomona Village, has since been arrested and charged with forgery and three counts of theft.

 

ACP Hilberto Romero, Head of Crime Investigation Branch 

“On Thursday Jenny Zabaneh reported that upon making checks at the bank she discovered several checks had been forged and had been stolen from her company an investigation was carried out the checks were obtained since then the accountant for the business namely Nasley Somerville has been arrested and charge for theft and forgery”