However, the police have confirmed that no one else is being investigated and they have closed the inquiry.
During his ten years at the helm, the former Army Major took £300,000 for his own benefit by adjusting board minutes and lying to financial officers to say he had been awarded pay rises and bonuses.
This newspaper understands his salary increased by more than 130% over a decade.
But Coleman also ensured other staff members received inflated pay rises and bonuses, which sources have told the JEP was part of his ploy to cover his tracks.
Coleman, who is in custody, is due to be sentenced by the Royal Court’s Superior number, which convenes only for the most serious cases, in February.
Today two States police detectives involved in the case have confirmed all investigations into activities at the charity have ceased and no one else is wanted in connection with any wrongdoing.
Coleman’s indictment documents – which list in details the facts behind each of his 19 charges – show that in many instances he was fraudulently altering documents to award himself and others pay rises and bonuses.
In one incident, the now 61-year-old scammed the charity to receive a personal pay rise of 17% – he had in fact only been awarded 5% – but also manipulated documents to give ‘seven other employees increases equivalent to between 6% and 16%’.
In total the JSPCA lost about £400,000 due to Coleman’s crimes – £300,000 of which was for his own benefit. By the time the defendant’s offending was uncovered, the JSPCA’s finances were in dire straits.
Detective Constable Shaun Smith, the officer in charge of the case, said that after 18 months of meticulous inquiries, it was the police’s view that Coleman was increasing the salaries of innocent employees who were unaware of his crimes.
‘Coleman had been appointed by a committee who entrusted him to manage the charity on a day-to-day basis. Coleman was the most senior employee at the JSPCA and the only member of staff who attended the committee meetings, including meetings when pay rises and Christmas bonuses were proposed and awarded.’
Detective Inspector Lawrence Courtness, head of the Joint Financial Crimes Unit, added: ‘Whilst others may have inadvertently benefited through Coleman’s actions, our investigation has identified that it was only Coleman whose actions were criminal and we are not investigating any other parties in relation to this matter.’
Coleman’s offending involved him receiving minutes from meetings of the charity’s board – which has included numerous States Members over the years – which he would legitimately alter for typos and minor issues. The minutes from some meetings would include recommendations for pay rises for various staff, including Coleman, expressed in percentages.
Coleman would then tell finance officers of the pay rises but express the values in inflated cash amounts – not percentages. The legitimately amended minutes would then be sent back to the board for signing. Once Coleman received the minutes again, which were only signed on the back page, he would remove inside pages referring to agreed pay rises and replace them with his doctored versions so auditors would not detect his crimes. The minutes would then be filed away in his office which was out of bounds to all but him.
In late 2018, prosecutors filed for a ‘saisie judiciaire’ to seizedmany of Coleman’s assets including a house, jewellery and gun collection. Inquires to allow the JSPCA to be compensated from Coleman’s estate are ongoing, the JEP has learned.
