4 Social Development Ministry employees 'charged' over stolen food cards

FOUR employees at the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services now face disciplinary charges arising out of investigations into the disappearance of 32 food cards in 2022. According to the charges, the 32 cards were used to make purchases amounting to $117,200.

During the budget debate last October last year, the minister, Donna Cox, said the cards had been stolen from the unlocked drawer of a ministry employee in August. She said it was only two weeks later that the permanent secretary was informed.

Cox said then both police and the ministry were investigating. During the period that the cards went missing, Cox said money was allowed to accumulate.

The four, who were sent on administrative leave in October, include the director of the programme, a clerk, an administrative officer and an administrative assistant. A fifth person took early retirement and escaped the disciplinary charges.

Cox, on Saturday, confirmed four employees at the ministry's Social Welfare Division (SWD) were placed on administrative leave but said her ministry had not been informed that any of them had any charges filed against them.

"I can confirm that a number of both senior and junior employees within our organization SWD, have been sent on administrative leave while an internal and police investigation is underway. However, we are not aware of any specific charges that have been laid against these individuals," she said in a WhatsApp reply to Sunday Newsday.

Cox said the ministry could not comment further pending the investigations.

"The Ministry of Social Development and Family Services takes any allegations of fraudulent activity very seriously and are fully cooperating with the authorities in their investigation. Our priority is to ensure a fair and thorough process, and we trust that the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service will handle any legal aspects of this case."

The disciplinary charges are that on or around August 2, 2022, the four, without reasonable excuse, acted in a manner prejudicial to the efficient conduct of the service when, having responsibility for the safekeeping of the food cards, they failed to secure them, resulting in their being stolen.

While the charges listed 32 food cards as stolen, the number of people listed as being affected was 30.

The four received letters of notifying them of the charges on July 4, this year, and were given seven days to make representation. They submitted responses to the allegations during the investigation last year which will be used as their defence during the tribunal. If found guilty, they face dismissal.

Sunday Newsday was told the police investigation is ongoing, with no set completion date.

Response to the allegations

In his response to the allegation against him, the director said he was made aware of the missing cards at a meeting on August 2. He said the cards were initially housed at one department, then transferred when management changed. The cards were held at the central office, in the desk drawer of a clerk under instruction to hold them there because of the large deposits on them.

The director said the keeping of the new cards was not stringent, so he believed: “The senior officer with the responsibility (for) the cards lost sight of the replacement cards being required to be kept under lock and key, as those cards are loaded and ready for use.

“My understanding is that when (person named) assumed duties…she met the situation of replacement cards being kept in the desk drawer and continued to place (them) therein.” He said he was not aware replacement cards were not being kept under lock and key, and did not ask about it, “thinking that the necessary security measures were in place.”

But after the cards were found to be missing, he said “a robust process” for handling replacement cards was put in place. They are now kept in a vault to which he and one other person have access, and when a card is issued, the person receiving it must sign as having received it.

The director said in his opinion, “a genuine oversight” occurred, which was affected by the lack of “a process map, but learning of the processes while doing the job.” This happened because the management of the food grant was handed over to the Social Welfare Division, “without an initial transfer process,” on top of which, the staff who had mostly managed the payments in the past were unexpectedly transferred. This meant the Social Welfare Division had “no involvement…apart from recommending payment by the permanent secretary.”

He said the incident has taught the staff to be “ever so vigilant” over government funding, and the theft and subsequent investigation had left him “stressed.”

The administrative officer said she was made aware of the disappearance of the cards when the food support clerk came to her at the end of the day and told her 32 cards were missing. She said after the cards were returned from First Citizens bank in December 2021, they were sent for distribution, but some cards were returned and were not secured, but kept in the clerk’s drawer. She and the administrative assistant were not told this.

“Proper procedure should have been followed.”

She added that despite being the senior supervisor of the section, she was not aware that the cards had been activated, or they would have been under lock and key, as is the norm with all social welfare benefit cheques and other items of monetary value.

So, she wrote, as soon as she was told of their disappearance, “(Name called) and I immediately went to the director and deputy director for advice and a way forward.”

The administrative assistant said the department was restructured and the food support clerk at central office was not properly trained in securing food cards, so continued the previous practice of leaving them in a desk drawer. She said in April there was a meeting to distribute food cards and food support cheques at the head office and she was asked to organise the project. During this entire three-month project, she said she was never aware that food cards were being kept in a food support clerk’s desk.

“The normal schedule of food card support was not laid on my desk. And I only had interaction with the desk when incoming calls or clients arrived at central office and I referred these to the food support clerk.”

She said when she came to work on August 3, 2022 she was made aware of the missing cards and immediately met with her supervisors. During the meeting the food support clerk was interviewed and the administrative assistant became aware that the clerk had not been properly trained in sensitive matters such as storing material with monetary value.

The clerk said she was given minimal training when she started work in November 2021. She said during the handover of duties, she continued putting temporary and permanent food cards that had been sent to head office for cancellation in a box on her desk, as she had seen her predecessor do. After starting work, she sent three lists to the bank detailing who the cards were for, and their value. The first list was sent on January 26 last year, with 37 names.

“On February 4, 2022, an email was sent out to my supervisors informing them about replacement cards at head office which had excessive amounts. A request was sent for the bank to update us about the balances on the permanent food cards in order for us to verify those clients who were not in need of the grant. On February 11, 2022, I collected 35 replacement cards at FCB.”

The cards, she said, were kept in an envelope on her desk until they were sorted, then put in her drawer. During the transition from the old system to the new one, she rarely checked on the cards in her drawer, as she received 937 cards to be used in March. During that period, the clerk said replacement cards were not issued, as clients were not being contacted to collect them.

On April 17, 2022, a final list of all replacement cards was made and it totalled 47. On August 2, a woman came to receive her replacement card and when she checked, the clerk realised it and 31 others were missing. When she contacted the bank, she was told the card had been used from July 16-25.

Cards missing long before

On August 29, permanent secretary Jacqueline Johnson emailed the director telling him the clerk claimed 18 cards had gone missing in June.

“There were 18 cards missing and I was not notified. Read (name called) report. I don’t know what is happening. So 38 plus 18 and more. So 56 cards are missing,” she wrote.

The director forwarded the email to the clerk, who responded that the 32 missing cards included the 18 from two months earlier. She wrote that around the third week in June, a client enquired about a replacement card, and then she noticed 18 were missing. She said she checked but could not find the cards. Then on August 2, the other 14 were discovered missing when another client came to collect her card.

Cox also told Parliament the withdrawals and spending patterns showed the cards were used at businesses not authorised by the ministry and to buy things other than food.

“The report provided on the replacement cards between October 2021 (and) August 2022, and about 30 food cards, there were balances being accrued for approximately six months, and these balances ranged between $5,000 and $39,000.

“We are talking about replacement food cards that were left in a drawer, were not supposed to be in use, and this is the kind of money that was found: as much as $39,000 was found on the card.”

The investigation of the card accounts, she said, showed that in the first month of 2022, the replacement cards received continuous monthly top-ups with no spending activity, “but that changed from June 2022-August 2022, when significant top-ups were observed.”