Acting Town Clerk, Carol Sooba was today sent on leave by the City Council, the latest move in a long-running battle.
A press release from the City Council follows:
The Mayor and City Council is apologising for the unbecoming behaviour of Ms Carol Ryan Sooba, at its Statutory Meeting, today, May 25, 2015. We, at Council,are looking forward to a regime of quiet and progress, as we propose to work with local communities to advance the specific and general interests of the city of Georgetown. It is time to move forward and rebuild the city of Georgetown.
All that the council did today was to activate a motion which was tabled and passed in March 2015. The motion required Ms Sooba to proceed on administrative leave to facilitate a forensic investigation into a number of alleged illegalities and improprieties. These involved monies from the council’s coffers.
These include her surreptitious waiving of 27 million dollars for a wealth business interest that was selling its property in Georgetown without the knowledge and fiat of the duly elected Mayor and City Council; the payment of fees to an attorney in excess of 1 million dollars, for extraneous matters, not approved by council; for the purchase of equipment that was not a priority amounting to millions of dollars; her refusal to carry out any and all decisions of the duly elected Mayor and Councillors.
Also, her failure to explain the purchase of a Public Address System, which is not functioning and other related issues.
The Acting Town Clerk in addition to all of this had not proceeded on any leave for three years inspite of the normal system, which stipulates that she should take her annual leave. The motion which was activated was approved by a majority and took into account a number of matters and improprieties alleged committed by Ms Sooba. Even today, Ms Sooba continued to spew inflammatory remarks against the Mayor and City Councillors.
Council will immediately begin investigations into all alleged improprieties by Ms Carol Ryan Sooba. In the meantime, we urge all citizens to pay keen attention to and cooperate with our effort to restore and advance the city of Georgetown.
