The dismissed chairman of the Grove/Haslington Neigh-bourhood Democratic Coun-cil (NDC), Godfrey Henry is likely to be charged over some $2.98M in missing funds as detailed in a just-released report from the Auditor General's Department.
The report states that market revenues and rates and taxes amounting to $2.98M were not accounted for, but that Henry is being asked to give account for $2.1M.
And the council has since dispatched a copy of the report to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) which is expected to take action.
According to the report, which was submitted on June 15, the investigation commenced as a result of articles published in the Stabroek News on February 18 and April 3 this year.
The report said allegations were made by members of staff of the NDC and residents of the community.
The specific allegations investigated by the AG's department were that Henry had misappropriated market revenue and rates and taxes he had collected. Besides, he was alleged to have over-expended the council's budgetary allocation by $2.4M, employees were not paid wages and salaries for the period September 2003 to January 2004 and that Henry had collected sums of money totalling $440,115 from the Finance Officer to purchase fuel and spares and repairs to the NDC's two hymacs. In addition, he had collected $1.5M from two contractors for the rental of the said hymacs. Both of these sums were not accounted for, according to the AG's report.
Stabroek News was told that the special investigation covered the areas with respect to the allegations made during the periods January to December 2003 and January to March 2004. The objective of the investigation was to determine whether the allegations had merit and could be proven.
During the investigation, key officers at the NDC were interviewed. In addition all transactions and relevant records in relation to the collection and remittance of revenue and supporting accounting records for expenditure that were considered necessary to provide information for a proper investigation were gathered. The report states that the records examined included those kept by the NDC as well as those of District Development Officer (DDO).
Accounting system
Giving a run down of the accounting system which should have been in place at the NDC, the report revealed that upon payment of rates and taxes to the NDC, receipts are written and given to residents. The amounts paid are then entered into the Assessment Register and Collectors Cash Book (CCB). The report states that every Thursday the total cash collected along with the original CCB is taken to the DDO's office at Enmore ECD where the cash is paid over. A receipt is then issued to the officer making the payment.
With regard to payments, a payment voucher is prepared by the Finance Officer and approved by the Chairman of the NDC and any other council member. These are examined and passed for payment by staff of the DDO's office. Cheques are written in the Finance Officer's name or payee's name where applicable. The cheques are drawn on a bank account which is kept for all the NDCs on the East Coast.
Moreover, the revenues and expenditures are then recorded in the Revenue and Expenditure Abstracts, which are kept at both the NDC's office and the DDO's office. In addition, the DDO keeps a cash book in respect of the bank account, while each NDC maintains their individual cash book. The DDO is also required to reconcile his cash book with the bank statements on a monthly basis.
Findings
The report noted that revenues, inclusive of market revenues, rates and taxes totalling $2.985M were collected for the period September to December 2003. The amount collected was not paid over to the DDO's office at Enmore. Instead, amounts totalling $2.866M were expended on excavation works, wages and salaries, telephone and electricity bills, stationery, fuel and lubricants and general maintenance of the office, without the authority of the DDO.
Further, according to the report, it could not be determined how the difference of $119,000 was accounted for. The report stated that it should be noted that wages and salaries for the month of January 2004 were not paid until March 2004. Nevertheless, revenues collected during the period January to march 2004 were verified as having been paid over to the DDO's office.
On the issue of budgetary allocation, for the years 2002 and 2003 this was based on the revenue collections. For the year 2002, revenue collected totalled $19.6M whilst expenditure was $22.1M, hence an over-expenditure of $2.4M. This amount was carried over to 2003 and 2004 and this was done by the Chairman without regard to the council's budget.
The Finance Officer admitted that he had paid Henry amounts totalling $440,115 to purchase gasoline, lubricants and make payments for the repairs to the council's hymacs. However, there was only evidence to indicate that Henry had signed as receiving $51,000. The report says the officer explained that Henry promised to give the acknowledgement for the amount of $389,115 later on. The entire amount of $440,115 cannot be accounted for.
In relation to the amount of $1.54M, the NDC was contracted on August 14, 2003 by Dipcon Engineering Services to carry out excavation works and construct canal crossings for the council in the sum of $1.4M. Amounts totalling $1.3M were collected by Henry on behalf of the council as payment for work done, but this amount was not brought to accounts in the council's records.
In addition, an amount, of $200,000 was also collected by Henry on behalf of the NDC from Doch-Cab Housing Co-operative Society for work done by the council's hymac and this was also not accounted for.