PERMANENT Secretary (PS) of the Ministry of Legal Affairs, Ms Indira Ananjit, has been sent on fifty-two days’ leave to facilitate an ongoing audit into the disappearance of law books and computer parts collectively worth over $5M from the subject Ministry.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, told the media at a press briefing held at his ministry on Monday that Ananjit has been on leave for several weeks as auditors from the Auditor General’s Office conduct their investigations.

“Ms Indira Ananjit, Permanent Secretary, was sent on leave to facilitate the ongoing audit into the disappearance of millions of dollars in law books and computer parts,” he read from a prepared statement.
According to Williams, seventeen law reports of the Commonwealth, valued at more than $2.5M, and in excess of $2M in computer parts have disappeared from the Ministry. Investigations are being done from 2013 to present, during which time former Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General Anil Nandlall was in office.

“The audit is ongoing; the PS authorized on those purchases and the books cannot be found in the Ministry or the spares, and so the investigations are ongoing,” said Williams.

He is hopeful that the audit report can reveal where the items have been taken. In Ananjit’s absence, Melissa Tucker, Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator, will be acting as the Permanent Secretary.

Ananjit has served as PS for the Ministry of Legal Affairs for a number of years.