Town Clerk to take action against PPP Councillor – Mayor

City Hall’s hidden bank accounts

Mayor of Georgetown Patricia Chase Green has signalled that the Town Clerk will be taking “necessary” actions against People’s Progressive Party Councillor Bishram Kuppen for stirring up allegations of corruption and four hidden bank accounts.

Chase Green stated that Council has expressed its annoyance about Kuppen’s claims that there were four hidden bank accounts at City Hall. At the first statutory meeting, Kuppen had revealed that he had perused a report and found the discrepancy of four hidden accounts. He related that when he questioned the City Treasurer on the matter, he confirmed the existence of the accounts.

He stated that the City Treasurer blurted out that there were additional accounts but whenever he pushed for it to be entered into the reconciliation of the financial statement it was pushed aside.

“I am not aware that there are any hidden accounts. There are special accounts for salaries and special projects but there are no hidden accounts. I’m here and I have nothing to hide at City Hall,” she said in a telephone

interview.

She indicated that the law gives provision for the Council to have special accounts, asserting that neither the Mayor nor the Town Clerk handles the purse strings.

Recently, the Council has been accused of shrouding corruption and not being accountable, thus prompting calls for an audit to be conducted into the financial affairs of the Mayor and City Council, since there has not been any audit reports submitted for the past 10 years.

According to the Municipal and District Councils Act, within four months of the close of the financial year, the City Treasurer is required to prepare and submit to the auditor, financial statements for that year for audit. If the treasurer fails to comply, he/she will be guilty of an offence. It has been over a decade that the M&CC – dominated by the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), a main partner in the governing coalition – has failed to make any public presentation of its financial position.

Former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran had insisted that 10 years of arrears in terms of financial reporting and auditing was not only a “disturbing trend” but also showed that the Council had no interest in bringing the accounts to order.

He stated that as of August 2013, the last set of audited accounts of the Council was for 2004 and the Audit Office had received financial statements for the years 2005 and 2007. There is no evidence to suggest that any financial statements were produced for 2006.

However, Chase Green stated that she will not deter any auditor from probing the financial affairs of the Council.

She affirmed that Kuppen has shown “disrespect” to the Council by making statements without any evidence. “The Councillor must apologise to Council and the Town Clerk. He is making allegations and he has no evidence to prove what he is saying,” she said.

When Guyana Times had first approached Mayor Chase Green on the issue and questioned her on where the accounts were, she had laughed and said “they are at a bank”.

However, shortly after she redirected the question to her Town Clerk.

But, when attempts were made to contact Town Clerk Royston King, the newspaper was told that he could not pronounce on the issue. In fact, this publication was told that authorities within the Council were warned not to communicate to the media on this particular matter.