– urges Commissioner Burrowes to ‘leave no stone unturned’ and ‘get to the bottom of the matter’
GUYANA Local Government Officers Union (GLGOU) has charged that an independent information technology (IT) specialist was sent by high authority to make changes in the Rates and Taxes Software Programme at City Hall, so that the recent multi-million dollar scam could have been pulled off.

President of the Guyana Local Government Officers Union Mr. Andrew Garnett and General Secretary Mr. Dale Beresford at yesterday’s press conference

Speaking at a press conference at their Woolford Avenue office, also in Georgetown, GLGOU President, Mr. Andrew Garnett said he was not at liberty to name the high ranking official(s) who gave the specialist permission, but he maintained that the cashiers did not have the level of access to make the alterations.
He referred to a June 5 article in Kaieteur News, under the caption ‘Commissioner uncovers $$$ multi-million fraud at City Hall’ which reported that, based on the municipality’s records, the cashier for the $3.3M transactions was Charlene Gittens.

Garnett said it is rather unfortunate that the responsibility is falling on junior members of staff and that someone is being offered up as a sacrificial lamb.

He said information at the disposal of GLGOU clearly states that that statement in the newspaper is not supported by a shred of evidence and there is no such record in the municipality.

“The GLGOU, therefore, publicly calls on the management of Kaieteur News to correct the erroneous statement which, potentially, stigmatises the good name and record of Ms. Gittens,” Garnett said.

“Maybe it is no mere coincidence that Ms. Gittens, who has been openly the most vocal critic of the rates and taxes software programme, was mysteriously excluded from accessing it some months ago, thus resulting in her transfer from cashier duties,” he speculated.

Garnett, in Gittens’ presence, said GLGOU is, therefore, strongly urging the Commissioner of Inquiry, Mr. Keith Burrowes, to leave no stone unturned to get to the bottom of the matter.

Garnett said the union desires a full, comprehensive, and expeditious investigation which must serve to, immediately, halt any possible financial leakages to a money-strapped council; urgently put in place a rates and taxes software programme with its integrity intact, and help in the process of the restoration of staff morale and its consequent impact on service delivery.

EXPOSED
He said the union wants whomever is guilty to be exposed and dealt with condignly because, when people choose to rob the Council of millions of dollars every now and then, revenue is hindered.

Garnett also said that the City Council is already challenged when it comes to offering certain services.

According to him, numerous complaints were made by the general staff of the City Treasurer’s Department about what is well-known and widely-accepted as a faulty and compromised rates and taxes software programme.

He said that time and again constant breaches and manipulation of the rates and taxes database by persons unknown have been reported.

Garnett said these incidents have prompted GLGOU to make a number of representations to the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and Chairman of the Finance Committee, Town Clerk, and City Treasurer, requesting that the current programme be scrapped and a new one put in place.

He said he wished to make clear that it was the staff members of the City Treasury who not only unearthed the scam, but submitted comprehensive reports to the relevant authorities.

Garnett said GLGOU, as a disciplined, responsible and accountable organisation, has a long track record of non-interference and cooperation with the administration of the Municipality of Georgetown and Minister of Local Government or any other competent authority engaged in any legitimate and proper investigation of any purported illegal and/ or improper activity.

“We have, however, always emphasised and held firm to the principle of justice and the protection of the rights of the workers,” he said.

Garnett remarked, too, that the recent incident in the Treasurer’s Department at City Hall is rather unfortunate and regrettable, but should have been avoided.

Also at the forum was GLGOU General Secretary, Mr. Dale Beresford.

At a recent press conference at City Hall, Mayor Hamilton Green inferred that members of the junior staff were wholly culpable, but that his authority, and that of the City Council, were constrained, despite his having made several recommendations for punitive actions to be taken against those committing misdemeanours.

However, serious questions have arisen as to the real perpetrators of the latest scam that has been recently discovered as a result of a private legal matter which involved the repayment of disbursements by a third party to City Hall’s coffers, when it was discovered that the payments of over three million dollars were not reflected in the records of the City Treasury Department.

The Mayor is inferring that it is members of the staff who are implicated in the recently-discovered fraud, while the GLGOU is refuting this and contending to the effect that junior staff members are being made scapegoats for the culpability of authority figures who are attempting to cover their tracks.

In an invited comment Commissioner Burrowes has said that throughout the investigations conducted by the Commission, he has been conferring with the unions, and has personally met with Mr. Garnett several times, and it is the Commissioner’s considered opinion that both Mr. Garnett and his union are intent on having the truth exposed – whatever that truth may be.

“I met with Mr. Garnett about two or three times recently and what I have found is that both himself and his union are very, very keen to get to the bottom of this matter. They are not seeking to protect anybody, but very supportive of the investigation and seeking to let the chips fall where they may,” Mr. Burrowes said via telephone.