A 31-year-old man accused of gaining employment at the Police Civilian Oversight Authority (PCOA) through the use of false documents, pleaded not guilty and had his bail extended in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court Tuesday.

Greg Hall, 31, from Marathon Drive, Kingston 20, is charged with conspiracy to deceive and uttering forged documents. He returns to court on May 27.

Allegations are that in 2008, the Ministry of National Security placed an advert in a newspaper seeking a qualified individual to fill the post of Information Technology Manager at PCOA.

It is alleged that in August 2008 the accused applied for the position and was successful after he presented, along with his application and résumé, scanned copies of a University of Wisconsin Madison, Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science and Mathematics and a University of the West Indies, Master of Philosophy in Computer-Based Management Information Systems.

an audit

Further allegations are that, during an audit at the company in October of last year, the accused who was earning a salary of $1,977,690 per annum was asked to submit the original documents for the degrees he is purported to have obtained from the two universities.

When he could not produce the documents, checks were made at the universities and it was revealed that he never enrolled, in addition he was never awarded the degrees.

Subsequently, the accused resigned from the post and the matter was reported to the police. On May 5 he was arrested and charged.