Auditor General Deodat Sharma has confirmed that he is conducting an investigation of an allegation that Town Clerk Carol Sooba improperly used monies from the city to hire a lawyer to look after her interests
On January 10, 2014, Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green dispatched a letter to the Auditor General requesting
that an immediate investigation be launched into what was described as the misappropriation of the council’s funds by Sooba.
Sharma told Stabroek News yesterday that until the investigation is concluded he cannot say whether it is a misappropriation of the council’s funds or not. Sooba has not been available to Stabroek News to speak on this and other matters.
In the complaint, which was seen by Stabroek News, the Deputy Mayor said that the money was to pay for legal fees to attorney Roysdale Forde for “professional services rendered in relation with the matter of Application by Royston King Action #103-M.”
King had moved to court against the Local Government Minister’s decision to select Sooba as Town Clerk although she did not meet the advertised criteria for the post. Since her formal appointment as Town Clerk, Sooba and the council have been at deep odds. In the letter, Chase-Green said that at no time was Sooba ever named as a party in the court proceedings launched by King. The action was also never filed against the council, but rather against the Minister of Local Government, she said.
Chase-Green had also stated in the letter that the payment voucher to the tune of $500,000 was prepared and “purportedly signed by an officer of the council and a councillor.
She contended that this constitutes a misappropriation of the council’s funds for several reasons, including the fact that the matter was not filed against the Town Clerk or any officer of the city of Georgetown. “The court did not serve an order on Ms. Sooba to appear in the matter. Therefore, she is not a party to the proceedings; she has no locus standi in the matter,” Chase-Green argued.
Chase-Green also informed that the council did not authorize the transaction and that the named attorney was not one used by the council. “Mr Roysdale Forde is not part of the complement of attorneys-at-law used by the Mayor and City Council…The Mayor and City Council did not authorize the transaction. No councillor can authorize such payments to any vendor without the fiat of the council.”
She argued too that the decision to engage Forde was never discussed at the council’s finance committee and did not follow the standard procedure established by the council to engage lawyers. “The engagement of Mr. Roysdale Forde was never discussed at the Council’s Finance Committee or any other committee of the Mayor and City Council.”