Police to investigate City Hall’s ‘big three’

Anyone found culpable should be charged – Whittaker

It appears that City Hall has gotten more than it had bargained for after seeking the approval of Local Government Minister Ganga Persaud to send home three senior officers at the centre of massive irregularities at the municipality.
Minister within the Local Government Ministry Norman Whittaker, during a press briefing on Monday, said  his ministry would not be responding to the letter sent by City Hall, instead Cabinet has made a decision to call in the police to investigate the alleged fraud. Whittaker further stated that he is quite shocked that “the mayor has awaken from his slumber”, and realised that there are grave misappropriations of state funds by senior members of his staff.
Whittaker said anyone found culpable after the police probe should be charged. At a recent statutory meeting, a decision was made to have Town Clerk Yonette Pluck-Cort, City Engineer Gregory Erskine and City Treasurer Andrew Meredith sent on leave, following the resurfacing of damning reports from chairman of the Implementation Committee, Keith Burrowes and the findings of the inquiry by member of the committee, Ramon Gaskin.
The Gaskin report clearly pointed out that the level of incompetence and efficiency is not only restricted to the three named officers but extends to councillors.
When asked if the three officers being on the job would hinder the smooth flow of the police inquires, Minister Ganga Persaud, who was also at the press briefing, made it clear that based on the in-depth findings of Gaskin’s report he doubts that the trio would want to engage in anything that would frustrate the process.
Town clerk’s response
The Local Government Ministry had sent a copy of Gaskin’s report for the town clerk to respond. Persaud said in her response the ministry has found that there were some inconsistencies in regards to the council’s financial management.
“That being as it is, all the reports and written response gathered from that inquiry were handed over to the police and we are awaiting guidance on the way forward whether  the officers’ presence on the job will interfere with further probe,” he explained.
Persaud noted that City Hall has failed to propose any new initiatives in relation to appropriate management, except to ask that the three officers be removed. “That in itself does no justice to the trio.” It is against this backdrop, he said, Cabinet sought to engage the attention of the police.
According to Persaud, “it is the belief that to address the issue of garbage disposal, one has to start from within the City Hall, because the most rotten garbage is found at the top management of the municipality.”
He noted too that his ministry did not find this belief “humorous but serious”; since such an opinion had been formed against City Hall, something must be done at the level of his ministry.