During the period under review, the report said, “the Guyana Police Force suffered a loss of cash from its Finance Office, Eve Leary in the sum of $3.547 M.” The loss occurred, the report said, when unknown persons accessed a strong box within the cashier cage, designated “Cashier 3” at the Finance Office and removed some components of payrolls kept in the strong box.
According to the Auditor General’s report, $1,903,769 of this amount was supposed to be used to pay a 6 percent increase to 201 inactive personnel while a further $1,054,095 was designated to pay a 6 percent increase on pension to 82 persons.
A further $337,858 was set aside as a “one-off payment” to eight active personnel and $168,587 as a 6 percent payment to 11 active personnel. $52,636 was for a one-off payment to the 4 members of the Constabulary and $30,000 for the musketry. The loss of the latter sum affected two persons, the report said.
The Auditor General’s report said that a post-loss audit found that there were several internal weaknesses.
The report said that “records were not maintained of daily checks carried out on Cashiers 2 and 3”. It was discovered too that “in terms of responsibility, Cashiers 2 and 3 were functional in the Salaries Section, while performing duties as cashiers”.
The lack of proper segregation of duties, the report said, created possibilities for the perpetration of fraud or other irregularities, since the preparation of payrolls was not separated from the payment of related cash.
Further, a significant amount of salaries, pensions, etc was paid in cash, contrary to the requirement articulated by the Ministry of Finance for minimized cash payments.
The duties relating to the holding of keys to the safes in Cashiers 1 and 2 were segregated, but a record was seen to support the arrangements for only Cashier 1, the report said. In relation to Cashier 3, the keys to both the cage and the canister were in the possession of one officer, the report said, and there was also no record of this arrangement.
It is a requirement for a record to be kept of all monies and items lodged in vaults, safes, strong boxes and canisters, but such records were not maintained in respect of such facilities at the Finance Office, the report said.
The Finance Officer explained that the loss has been verified by the Audit Department and stricter control measures have been implemented.
The Audit Office recommended that “the Guyana Police Force take urgent measures to (a) maintain records of daily checks undertaken on cashiers and of contents of safes; (b) provide a basis for adequate segregation of duties; and (c) minimize cash payments to an acceptable level in keeping with the recommendations of the Finance Ministry.”
The Finance Officer explained that the loss has been verified by the Audit Department and stricter control measures have been implemented the report said.
The $3.5 million theft was discovered on January 5, this year and three officers were initially held for questioning before being released. After being released, the officer was transferred to different areas, Commissioner of Police Henry Greene told this newspaper, late in January.
