FID Urges Tighter Cash Controls After CMU Officer Charged Over Student Funds

The Financial Investigations Division is urging organisations to keep tighter checks on money handling and to alert the authorities quickly when possible wrongdoing is detected.

The call follows the arrest and charging of Kevan Anthony Panton, an accounting officer at the Caribbean Maritime University, over alleged problems involving student funds. Panton, who is also a customer service officer at CMU, was taken into custody and charged the previous day.

He is facing 14 counts each of embezzlement, engaging in a transaction involving criminal property, possession of criminal property, facilitating a transaction involving criminal property, falsification of accounts, and conspiracy to defraud.

According to the FID, the matter began with issues noticed in November 2024 while the university was experiencing system downtime. During a check of cashier close-out reports against bank deposits, officials found that J$970,000 had not been lodged.

Investigators later found that the money was subsequently paid in or returned by Mr. Panton, the FID said. Even so, the agency said the order of events did not align with the cash-handling standards expected at the institution.

The division said more questions emerged during the January 2026 examination period, when students produced handwritten receipts for payments that did not appear in CMU’s records. That discovery led to a formal investigation of the university’s manual receipt, banking and receivables procedures.

The FID said its probe found gaps in the numbering sequence of manual receipt books, along with several books that could not be located. From the manual receipts examined, more than J$1.7 million was unaccounted for. Of that sum, about J$552,000 has since been lodged or returned.

Mr. Panton and another staff member were suspended in January 2026. A report was later submitted to the Financial Investigations Division.

Keith Darien, the FID’s Principal Director of Financial Crimes Investigations, said institutions that handle funds must maintain clear and strong systems for accountability.

Panton was offered bail in the sum of J$700,000. He is due to appear in the Kingston and St. Andrew Criminal Court on July 6.