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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(repealed).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.
