Manpower risks

While they declined to comment on the recent arrests of ten people for fraud at the San Juan/ Laventille Regional Corporation, the heads of two corporations yesterday observed the matter could have been easily overlooked because of the severe manpower shortage at corporation.

Last Friday, the Police Service announced that ten people, nine men and a woman, are currently in custody following investigations by the Anti-Corruption Investigations Bureau (ACIB), into the alleged fraudulent payment of $22.5 million in salaries at the San Juan Regional Corporation for the period 2011 to 2017.

The arrests were made during anti-crime exercises in Petit Valley, Valsayn and St Augustine, between 3.30 am and 12 pm on Thursday.

The suspects, ages 25 to 40 years, are being interviewed by ACIB officers and charges are imminent with acting Snr Supt William Nurse leading investigations.

Penal/Debe Regional Corporation chairman Dr Allen Sammy yesterday said while he could not speak to the case directly, he noted the absence of key people in various departments, including the financial department, meant little oversight at regional corporations.

“In most cases all of the corporations are under-staffed in key people and key people would be financial officers, sometimes accountants are not there, accounting officers, all the technical people who deal with vouchers and cheques who have to go through the various steps in the process before it is issued to someone.

“I am aware there is a severe deficiency of manpower, technical manpower in any corporation, probably all of the corporations.”

He said this may lead to daily paid staff being placed in positions for which they were trained to perform.

“There is always a fight to put people, often you have to put daily paid which is not permitted really but you don’t have a choice so that is done quite frequently.”

Asked about the auditors at the ministry level, he said their terms of engagement may include all of the state enterprises as well as regional and borough corporations.

“So the audit reports could never be up to date, it is always a few years behind, and that is not uncommon but the issue is really an administrative one.”

In full agreement was Chaguanas Borough Corporation Mayor Gopaul Boodhan who said there should be increased monitoring of all departments.

“You have supervisors, you have section heads and they should have a greater control and don’t take things for granted in terms of their checks and balances as it relates to the supervising of staff.”

He said the much anticipated local government reform contained provisions for the greater monitoring of each department including the financial department.

“There should be greater monitoring and not only the financial aspect but all the other aspects such as the human resource aspect, the equipment...so if you are not getting the performance that you anticipate like from a fortnight, very quickly you can get in there and find out what is the challenge of getting the deliverables on time.”

San Fernando Mayor Junia Regrello also agreed the issue was a managerial one and expressed concern about the report.

A Ministry of Local Government media statement noted that San Juan/Laventille Regional Corporation chief executive officer Kofi Chapman recognised discrepancies in the Accounting Unit last September and immediately reported it to the ACIB.

“The bureau interviewed relevant personnel in the corporation and has now concluded the investigation. Yesterday (Thursday), they proceeded to arrest individuals in relation to the discrepancies.

“The chairman and chief executive officer have not been contacted by the bureau, so further details on the arrests are not yet available. However, chairman Anthony Roberts has stated that he is happy that the investigation was handled in a confidential and unbiased manner.” Efforts to contact Local Government Minister Kazim Hosein were unsuccessful yesterday.