Mahaica overseer in hot water over missing $$$$
The Overseer of the Mahaica Neighbourhood Democratic Council, Region Four, is currently figuring out how to repay more than $1.5M which he reportedly embezzled from the entity over a period of time.
The man, Mohamed Shahabudeen, has been in police custody at the Cove and John lock-ups since Monday, almost immediately after an audit revealed that the money was missing.
Reports reaching this newspaper stated that following the audit, the police were called in.
Kaieteur News understands that the man has admitted taking the money and had planned to replace it before the audit exposed his plan.
“He said he used the money for his own business, over a period of time. His intention was to put it back but time ran out,” a source close to the investigations told this newspaper.
The development did not surprise Regional Chairman Clement Corlette of the Region Four Democratic Council, who in an invited comment told Kaieteur News that this is a problem affecting almost all NDCs throughout the country.
“Since the minister directly interferes with the running of these local government bodies, we are finding that this is happening all over,” Corlette stated.
He explained that prior to 2011, all supervisory powers of the NDCs rested with the Regional Democratic Councils, which had developed a system of stringent checks and balances.
However the regional chairman lamented that that state of affairs no longer exists.
“Every NDC, including Diamond, is going downhill because the gap in supervision is too big,” he said, adding that these bodies have become more delinquent and are collecting less rates and taxes.
In 2011, a similar incident was uncovered at the Grove/Diamond Neighbourhood Democratic Council, also involving an Overseer, Balraj Budwah.
The overseer had pledged to repay the $2.6M embezzled from the NDC.
Budwah was sent on “administrative leave” to facilitate a probe launched into the financial discrepancies that existed within the Council.
Initially, after discrepancies were unearthed, residents of the Grove community begun to point fingers at Budwah.
After being sent on leave, Budwah tendered his resignation, although it was unclear if this was done before the investigation was completed.
A repayment agreement was arrived at between the Ministry of Local Government and Budwah after it was confirmed that he was associated with the missing funds.
In a letter written to the Ministry dated September 26, 2011, Budwah had stated, “With reference to the investigation carried out between the Minister of Local Government and the Local Government Department of the Regional Democratic Council, Region Four, please be informed that I am in agreement with the facts presented in the report. I will refund $2, 615, 124 to the Council’s account on or before 26th October, 2011.”
The Minister had claimed that because of the “clean and accurate” record-keeping, his Ministry has conceded that the situation was not a case of blatant fraud.
According to Persaud, Budwah had indicated that he had “difficulties” and made use of the money towards a “special circumstance” that affected him on a personal level. However, “since it’s taxpayers’ money, due action had to be taken,” Persaud had stated. The Minister asserted that Budwah was relieved of his duties and was expected to replace the missing funds in full.