Review of the Choiseul Village Council holds the former Rep and Village Clerk accountable - Part 3

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vii. Easter Economic Stimulus Package

We noticed that Central Government issued an amount of $100,000.00 to Council under the Easter

Economic Stimulus Programme, April 2009. Council deposited the funds into an account that was

opened at the Choiseul Cooperative Credit Union without the approval of the Accountant General.

According to the “Application for Deposit Account” form, there were three signatories  to the

account and these were as follows:

Elmira Joseph - Chairperson of Council

Williana St Rose - Clerk of Council

Henson Samuel - Member of Council

In addition, it is longstanding practice and the policy of the Ministry of Local Government, that

two signatories were needed on all disbursement vouchers/cheques, with Clerk of Council being

the compulsory signatory.

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An examination of relevant disbursement vouchers submitted by the Credit Union revealed that

only the signature of Clerk of Council appeared on the disbursement vouchers which the Credit

Union used as its authority to debit the account.

Further, there were two amounts totalling $6,000.00 (2,883.78 + 3,116.22) that were disbursed

from the account and transferred to another account at the Credit Union (A/C # 890) on 15

2009. We saw no authorisation from Council for these debits to the account.

In addition, according to documentation from Council all the funds were disbursed for works and

activities in connection with “Choiseul Beautification Programme” and the Supervisor for all

works under the Programme was Griffith Jn Baptiste. There was no evidence that Griffith Jn

Baptiste was a member or employee of Council. Investigations revealed that Griffith Jn Baptiste

was a member of the UWP Choiseul Constituency Group. Further, there is no evidence  that

Council sanctioned the works contracts that were issued to the various contractors under the

Programme neither did Chairperson of Council countersigned the payment request as required by

the Section 30 of the Local Authorities Ordinance, Chapter 239, Revised Laws of St. Lucia, 1957

(repealed).

Further still, the documentation revealed that one of the contractors under the Programme was

Dedan  Jn Baptiste. In fact the documentation revealed that works  for that contractor was

supervised and certified by Griffith Jn Baptiste and the said Contractor was paid an amount

$28,000.00. Investigations revealed that Contractor, Dedan Jn Baptiste and Supervisor, Griffith Jn

Baptiste was one and the same person (Griffith Dedan Christiani Jn Baptiste – N.I no. 122008)

(see Exhibit 63).

TAIWANESE, MOROCCAN AN OTHER FUNDS

i. Value for Money – Procurement

a. Works Project

As alluded to elsewhere in this report, accounting officers or officers duly authorised to sign or

authorise payment instruments have a most important responsibility to ensure accuracy of every

detail in the said payment instrument before the payment instrument is approved, under the

provisions of Financial Regulation 72 (refer to page 53).

With the assistance of a qualified quantity surveyor from the Ministry of Physical Development,

Housing and Urban Renewal, we conducted a physical examination and cost estimation exercise

on works projects executed in the Constituency by Council for the period under review. The

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exercise revealed some significant differences between “estimated cost” and “amount paid”

pointing to wastage and possible fraud and embezzlement.

The instances of significant difference are outlined in the table below:

Project Name                        Name of Contractor        Estimated Cost             Amount Paid             Difference

Concrete Section of      Constance Charles          Could not locate           $22,263.00           $22,263.00

Compoyettee Road

Road Rehab  – Lower  Enthia St Brice                $3,405.00                      $15,050.00            $15,050.00           

Delcer

Community Road &

Bridge at Delcer                Jimmy Haynes          $15,564.00            $32,000.00           $16,436.00

Kerb & Slipper Drain  –      Smith Peter            Could not locate     $12,400.00           $12,400.00

Mongouge West

Footpath at Da Bans/La Maze  Peter Phillip               $8,446.00             $23,300.00           $14,854.00

Concrete Road at Dierre Morne   Sylvester Regis           $40,490.76           $55,000.00          $14,509.44

Drains and Culverts at Ravineau     Sylvester Regis         Could not locate      $38,320.00         $38,320.00

Retaining Wall and Drain

at Sauzay                                      Valeria Herman        Could not locate     $35,000.00        $35,000.00 

Infrastructural Works on

Jetrine Playing Field                       Wally St Juste          $36,443.00             $45,000.00         $8.557.00

Drain & Slips at La Perle              Wally St.Juste            $6,461.00            $39,000.00             $32,539.00

Road Rehab – Gravel                    Enthia Brice               $3,405.00            $15,050.00             $11,645.00

Total

                                                                     

b. Conflict of Interest – Bryan Charles

We noticed that Council issued a number of contracts to Bryan Charles during the time he served

as the Deputy Chairman of the Council. We can confirm that he was paid a total amount of

$33,008.03 during the period.

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This is a violation of the principle, that Members of Council should not use their power and

influence on Councils to further their personal interest.