City sends acting town clerk on leave

Constabulary officers remove the furniture at which Carol Sooba was sitting. (Photo by Arian Browne)

Following a nearly hour long verbal tug-o-war, de facto Town Clerk Carol Ryan Sooba was yesterday sent on administrative leave by the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown, following almost two years of contentious service.

At its first statutory meeting since the APNU+AFC coalition took office the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) activated a motion first moved in March of this year to have the acting town clerk proceed on administrative leave. The motion required Sooba to proceed on administrative leave in order to facilitate a forensic investigation into a number of alleged illegalities and improprieties.

In a press release, the M&CC said these illegalities and improprieties include “surreptitious waiving of $27 million [in taxes] for a wealthy business interest that was selling its property in Georgetown without the knowledge and fiat of the duly elected Mayor and City Council; the payment of