Dear Editor,
IN the Fables of Aesop, there is the story of how a bad King suddenly changed his behaviour and became a good one. Asked why, he relates a story about animals coming to bad ends when they try to do bad things. Aha! The moral of this very interesting fable is that whoever does what he ought not to, receives what he does not want. In Georgetown,

the story regarding our ‘King’ is considerably different. Unlike that King who made such an alteration in his conduct that he gained the name of “The Just,” with every- one blessing the felicity of his reign, ours instead decided to become more greedy, more ruthless and more immoral with the passage of time and would not have stopped had it not been for the intervention of the Commission of Inquiry. He could not have been massively taken aback by hearing the words, ‘You’re Fired,’ as he must have known that was inevitable. Most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit. In his case, it was the other way around. One can only conclude that it was he and other chaps at City Hall who authored the popular game, ‘Sea of Thieves.’

But firing the ‘King’ must be considered just a very small first step in addressing the looting of City Hall. The trail of theft cannot and must not be left just like that. The brazenness, the vengeance of the plundering; the boldness of the crime wave; and the audacity of the heist cannot be just swept over with a mere firing. What has happened at City Hall over the last three years makes the Banco Central Burglary in Brazil, the Brink’s-MAT Robbery in London and the Central Bank of Iraq Robbery in Baghdad look like child’s play. Unlike the Bernie Madoff scandal, where few people outside of Wall Street had heard of Bernard Madoff before he confessed to his epic US $65 billion fraud in 2008, in this instance the ‘King’s’ activities were well known to many, some of whom in several instances conspired with him.

One can only hope that the others who were cited in the same report for dereliction of duty, incompetence, and conspiracy, and who are still at City Hall nonchalantly carrying out their tasks as though nothing has happened, would be dealt with summarily and condignly. Dealing with one offender whilst allowing the others to continue with business as usual is material for a ‘Carry-On’ movie.

Just as importantly, a systematic and timely effort to see the return of the stolen assets of the council and the city must be urgently undertaken. The Local Government Commission must focus as well on putting in place the legal framework, institutional expertise, and the skills necessary to trace and return stolen assets from local authorities. This is the only way to develop the most effective tools to tackle and prevent the further theft of assets critical to the development of our cities and towns.
Regards
Mark Roopan