‘Employee theft’ at Rainforest could be larger than initially thought

reported theft at Rainforest Seafood, allegedly by a salesman, is anticipated to be significantly greater than the initial figure of $3.4M.

The disclosure was made Friday when accused Mark Palmer appeared in the Kinston and St Andrew Parish Court.

Forty-seven-year-old Palmer is accused of embezzling $3.4M from Rainforest where he worked for eight years prior to his arrest last month.

But the prosecution told the court Friday that a soon-to-be-completed forensic audit is expected to reveal vastly more that the figure Palmer is accused of taking.

Palmer, a resident of Portmore, reportedly stole the money over a period of time before calling in sick on May 4 and resigning his job days later.

He was found out after customers of the company complained that they did not owe Rainforest any money and showed receipts given to them by Palmer for goods they purchased.

On Friday, the prosecution asked the court to keep Palmer behind bars until after the audit is completed.

The fear is that Palmer would interfere with the audit process and the witnesses, who are said to be mostly Chinese.

He was remanded until June 21 and his fingerprint ordered taken.