The Ministry of Local Government has aborted investigations into the allegations of extortion by the City Treasurer three months after he was sent on leave.
Yesterday at a press briefing at City Hall, Mayor Hamilton Green said that for “reasons that I can’t explain, the enquiry has not been completed and the ministry has aborted the enquiry”.
Acting City Treasurer Andrew Meredith was asked to proceed on 65 days leave back in November last year after he was alleged to have tried to extort money from an RRT Enterprise debt collector. The directive for Meredith to proceed on leave came from the ministry. The Permanent Secretary of that ministry and Keith Burrowes, chairman of the 2009 Commission of Enquiry into the operations of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC), were identified to head the commission of enquiry which was supposed to investigate the matter.
Last week when contacted for a comment on the progress of the investigation Local Government Minister Kellawan Lall had said that he was still awaiting the final report on the matter. Efforts to get a comment yesterday following Green’s revelations proved futile.
Meanwhile Meredith has since resumed work and says that he is not quite so sure that the investigations into the extortion claims have been completed. He however did report to his senior on his return to work. Meredith returned to work from his leave on January 14.
According to Green, he will see to it that the council conducts an investigation into the acquisition of the equipment. It was the manner in which a low-bed truck was purchased that sparked the allegations of extortion.
The mayor said he will see to it that an investigation is completed since “I don’t want to leave any stain on the municipality”. As for when the M&CC will start its investigation the mayor said he could not give a date but it will be done “as soon as we assemble the proper personnel”.
