A tax collection officer and six clerks attached to the Treasury Department of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) have been fired by the Local Government Commission (LGC) following an embezzlement probe.

Acting City Treasurer, John Douglas, has also been reverted back to his substantive position as Accounting Manager, for his failure to pick up the theft, while Edwana Miller will now assume the position of Acting City Treasurer.

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle, Acting Town Clerk, Candace Nelson, confirmed the dismissals, which took effect from November 2. However, she could not say how long the theft was occurring or how much money was involved.

“I wouldn’t be able to say how much money was involved in it because I was not the sitting Town Clerk at the time of the discovery and I was not a party to the initial investigation or informing the Local Government Commission,” Nelson related.

However, she did note that the issue involved a tax collection officer, Clerk II, and three Clerk III staff from the Treasury Department.
Nelson also could not say if police investigators were called in given the seriousness of the matter. She told this publication that some of the money may have been repaid by some of those involved.

Deputy Mayor, Alfred Mentore, also confirmed the incident. He told the Guyana Chronicle that the theft was discovered some time ago, and the M&CC carried out its own investigation before handing the file over to the LGC with the recommendations.

“It was either late last year or early this year, but it was a while ago. There were some issues in relation to one of the persons in the Treasury Department, pilfering and finding ways to siphon off money within the system and the individual had a person or two that he had a collaboration with,” Mentore explained.

The LGC is tasked with dealing with human resource matters and other issues involving the local democratic organs, including the hiring, firing and disciplining of the employees.

Mentore noted that the M&CC did take some initial action against the employees who were implicated, but the LGC subsequently ordered their dismissal.

“The council would have reached and deliberated on the matter and we would’ve sent the report to them [LGC] based on the various recommendations and we would’ve made various transfers but they reviewed the matter and took action to not only move people from different departments but they chose to fire them,” he added.