By Jeff Trotman
Chairman of the Linden IMC, Orrin Gordon has called on the town clerk of the Linden municipality, Jonellor Bowen to conduct an internal investigation into the apparent theft of a fifteen-seater minibus, the property of the Linden Mayor and Town Council.
The vehicle was stolen between 6.00 PM and 11.53 PM on Sunday, March 1st from Wisroc in the vicinity of the end point of the Region Ten Mashramani float parade. It has been reported that a senior employee of the municipality claimed that he parked the minibus around 6.00 PM at the Wisroc junction some distance away from the revelry but it was not there when he returned for it shortly after midnight.
Gordon said that he went into office early on the morning of Monday March 2nd and was informed by the employee, who told him that he had reported the matter to the Wismar Police Station and Gordon advised him to make a further report to the Mackenzie Police Station because that is the command centre for the “E” Division of the Guyana Police Force.
Gordon told Stabroek News that the town council then contacted the Linmine Secretariat, which conducts a twenty four hour video surveillance of the Wismar/Mackenzie Bridge and it received video footage that showed the bus crossing the bridge from the Mackenzie end at 5.23PM and returning across the bridge at 11.23 PM.
Noting that the return crossing of the vehicle was a considerable period before the employee went to retrieve the bus at Wisroc, Gordon said that the video recording of the bus crossing at 5.23PM clearly showed the town council employee driving the bus but the driver of the bus on the return trip could not be determined because the images were distorted by the lights in the vicinity of the bridge.
He said the footage has been turned over to the police for them to use the technology in their laboratory to try to enhance the images in an effort to identify the driver on the return trip.
He said town council officials also have information that a pick up seemed to be accompanying the bus on its return trip across the bridge and the two vehicles were seen for some time travelling along the Linden/Soesdyke Highway. He also expressed the hope that the technology at the police laboratory would also make the driver of the pickup and its number plate discernable.
He said while matter is being investigated by the police, he has asked the town clerk to do an internal investigation. He stressed that as few people as possible from the town council must be involved in the internal investigation.
The Linden IMC Chairman added that among the written statements he has seen it has been noted that the vehicle was signed out by the security from the town council compound without indicating where it was going. “So, we have to see where there was a breach in the system and to make recommendations for the future.”
Gordon said the fifteen-seat minibus, BPP 9926, was obtained in 2012 at a cost of $3.4M after he had personally made repeated requests to the Minister of Local Government for a vehicle to be bought for the municipality. He also pointed out that the minibus was used to assist the council in general administration. “For example, pick up revenue and transport workers going out in the field.”
Gordon said that he subsequently heard that two motor cars and a motor cycle were stolen around the same time that the bus was stolen.
Meanwhile, some councillors of the Linden IMC have expressed concern that the municipal employee, who had used the bus when it disappeared, frequently used the town council vehicles as though they were his personal possessions and those vehicles were often seen outside of normal working hours parked in the vicinity of various night spots throughout the week. It was also said that the stolen vehicle should not have been outside of the town council compound during the Region Ten Mashramani celebration since there had been no official request for the use of any town council vehicle on that day.
