A police investigation into the disappearance of $120M belonging to the Public Service Ministry has now widened after figures show that at least $355M cannot be accounted for, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum confirmed yesterday.
Sources told Stabroek News yesterday that there is a paper trail which shows that nearly triple of what was initially reported missing cannot be accounted for. The sum was apparently withdrawn in parts over several years, with the most recent activity being earlier this year.
Contacted yesterday, Blanhum told Stabroek News that detectives started out looking at a $120M sum but that figure now stands at in excess of $355M.
Sources say that so far the former minister Jennifer Westford and the ministry’s Chief Personnel Officer Margaret Cummings are the only two persons being investigated in this matter. Stabroek News was unable to ascertain whether anyone else has been named in the probe but based on what this newspaper has gathered staff members of the ministry have been interviewed by the police.
Both women have visited the CID Headquarters, Eve Leary at the request of the police and have been questioned. Stabroek News has been able to verify that Cummings returned on several occasions for further questioning and that she has been cooperating fully with the police.
It was following the unauthorised attempted transfer of registration for several motor vehicles belonging to the Public Service Ministry that a decision was made to conduct an in-depth probe of the ministry. Both women have been charged in connection with the vehicle registration scam and are on a total of $2M bail. It was Minister of Governance Raphael Trotman who first informed the media that Westford was the subject of a second police investigation; this time involving the allocation of tens of millions of dollars. While he did not disclose a figure, Stabroek News was later told that it was in the vicinity of $120M.
With regards to this investigation, sources say that the police are in possession of documents which show a request for money and the subsequent honouring of that request in three parts earlier this year. Stabroek News was reliably informed that on each of those occasions millions of dollars were handed over to a senior official of the ministry.
It remains unclear as to what exactly the money was to be used for but sources have suggested that in the request it was stated that the money was needed to execute the functions of the ministry.
It would appear that attempts were made to ensnare other officials of the ministry in the request made but they have all since denied knowledge of it.
This newspaper was told that there is evidence to show that money was being stolen from the ministry from as far back as 2013.
