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alexk
Guest
On the heels of allegations of corruption and fraud at four municipal corporations in the last two weeks, Cabinet has taken a decision to send a Central Audit Committee into the country’s 14 municipal corporations to undertake special audits. If the audits prove any discrepancies and irregularities, forensic audits will then be requested, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young said at yesterday’s post-Cabinet media briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s.
“As you all are aware, there have been charges laid against officers in at least one of these corporations this week. The police service, through the Anti-Corruption Investigation Bureau, has also indicated to us the population that they are investigating some of the other corporations,” Young said.
At Wednesday’s weekly police press briefing, it was revealed that the ACIB is conducting investigations into the Diego Martin Regional Corporation and the Couva/Talparo/Tabaquite Corporation.
The ACIB also spearheaded an investigation into the San Juan/Laventille Regional Corporation, which resulted in ten people being charged for allegedly defrauding the corporation of almost $22.5 million in a payroll scam between the period 2011 to November 2017.
Days after the charges were laid on the ten, attorney Richard Jaggassar, representing a group of Chaguanas Borough Corporation workers, called for an investigation into the corporation, saying he suspected there may be fraud and misconduct at the corporation.