DENNIS DALEY, a former JDF captain, has been fined $100,000 or six months' imprisonment for fraudulent conversion of $3,547,000 which the military gave him to buy 20,000 yards of khaki polyester for uniforms for its troops.
Daley, who was defended by attorney-at-law Garth McBean, of the law firm DunnCox, was freed of a charge of fraudulent conversion of US$120,000, which the JDF said it gave him to purchase six Chevy Blazer jeeps, but which it said were never delivered.
He was freed after it was proven in court that the jeeps had been on the docks in Kingston since 1995.
The matter first came to public attention when it surfaced in Parliament in the Auditor-General's Report, and was queried in the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament. Investigations led to Daley's arrest and his trial began on March 8, 1999 in the No. 1 Corporate Area Criminal Court at Half-Way Tree before Resident Magistrate Martin Gayle, with Kent Pantry, Q.C., Director of Public Prosecutions, representing the Crown.
In outlining the Crown's case, at the trial, the DPP said that in January 1991, arrangements were made between the JDF and Daley, to supply six Chevy Blazers, using Amalgamated Auto Centre, of which he was managing director, as the importer. Colonel Bernard Blake of the JDF had made the request of Daley and his company on behalf of the military. The Jamaican Consulate in Miami prepared cheques for payment for the vehicles. On Daley's instructions, cheques were sent to a Miss Hylton in Florida. The vehicles were not delivered and Daley was asked to account for them.
He sent a letter dated February 2, 1992, purporting to come from 'Walter F. Koehler' of General Motors Corp, confirming receipt of two cheques for a total of US$112,200 and that letter suggested that delivery would have been made within three months. "The prosecution's case is that the letter was a forgery," Mr. Pantry said.
He said that in May 1992, Daley asked Colonel Blake for commission for purchasing and importing the vehicles, and was paid $350,975.25, based on an invoice submitted.
Several other delivery dates were promised between May 1992 and May 1993, and other letters and other documents were submitted by Daley for delivery of the vehicles to the JDF. The matter was reported to the Fraud Squad.
The other count related to $3,547,600 which the JDF gave to Daley on December 13, 1991 to purchase 20,000 yards of khaki polyester material. Mr. Pantry said that having received the cheque, Daley caused it to be negotiated three days later at Workers' Bank, Half-Way Tree, but had not provided the material.
Daley's defence was that he was not able to supply the uniform on time because he had difficulty finding a supplier to source the material. When he eventually found a supplier, that supplier sourced it late. He said the material was now in a warehouse in Canada. Daley said he did not have a fraudulent intention. He said he was simply in breach by delay.
He called one Mr. Chevour, an agent from Canada, who told the court that his company had sourced the material for Daley.
Daley was given time to pay the fine and has since paid it.
