THE Guyana Police Force (GPF) has now invited the Auditor General to join in their investigations of the massive fraud allegations at the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC), involving six senior officers that were recently sent on leave.
Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Ganga Persaud made the disclosure to the Chronicle yesterday in an invited comment on the telephone.
He said the police have collected some of the relevant records and are continuing their investigations. From what they related to him it seems likely that they will conclude their investigations shortly, he said.
Meanwhile, the Georgetown Municipality is currently being run by a new group of officers, following a decision by his Ministry to send the six senior officers on leave comprising Town Clerk, Yonnette Pluck, City Engineer, Gregory Erskine, City Treasurer, Andrew Meredith, Deputy Town Clerk, Sharon Harry-Munroe, Solid Waste Director, Hubert Urlin and Personnel Officer, Paulette Braithwaite, were handed letters to the effect July 23 last.
Minister within the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, Mr. Norman Whittaker told the Chronicle, following this move, that it was decided by Cabinet after consideration of a recommendation from the Council to have three officers sent on leave.
He said he could not understand why the Council suggested that only Pluck, Erskine and Meredith be sent off, since the ‘Raymon Gaskin Report’ identified deficiencies in other offices.
At a recent statutory meeting, city councillors spent more than two hours bickering over who should carry out the duties of the six seniors ordered off the job.
Seventeen councillors agreed with Deputy Mayor, Patricia Chase-Green when she suggested that Public Relations Officer (PRO) Royston King act as Town Clerk; Debra Lewis as PRO; Lloyd Alleyne as City Engineer; Ron Mc Calmon as City Treasurer; Michelle Smith as Personnel Officer and Parbhudin Bissoondyal as Head of Solid Waste Management.
Chase-Green had also proposed that no replacement be sought for Harry-Munroe, at this stage.
Meanwhile, the Local Government Ministry has handed over all relevant documents to the police to facilitate their probe into the issues. Whittaker said that the officers fingered have been involved in what appears to be “criminal acts” and hence the involvement of the police.
City Hall had previously been requested to provide a written response to major irregularities in the municipality but Whittaker said all Green sought to do was “politicise the acts of dishonesty” that were discovered and shift around the blame.
Burrowes, who was Commissioner of the Inquiry to investigate the operations at City Hall, had briefed members of the media recently disclosing that not a single one of the 40 key recommendations in his report has been implemented by the Council.