Additional documents requested by the Audit Office for its forensic audit of City Hall have been dispatched, acting Town Clerk Sherry Jerrick has informed the Georgetown Mayor and Council.
Jerrick on Monday announced at a statutory meeting that the Audit Office, through the Local Government Commission (LGC), had written to the council requesting the additional documents.
She noted that she was given seven days to produce the documents and she was able to respond within the timeframe given by the LGC.
The LGC invited the Audit Office to conduct a forensic audit of the accounts of City Hall, as recommended by a Commission of Inquiry.
As a result, there was a meeting between the Mayor, Town Clerk and the Auditor General and a request was made by the latter for a number of documents for the forensic audit in May.
Sharon Harry-Munroe, who was acting in the post of Town Clerk in July, was sent on leave after the Auditor General informed the LGC that the documents requested for the audit were not received.
LGC Chairman Mortimer Mingo said that a timeline was then given for the handing over of the documents but Harry-Munroe failed to meet it. He stated that after the Town Clerk would have requested an extension of the time to hand over the documents, she was given seven working days to comply. He said this was not complied with and the acting Town Clerk was then called to a meeting at the Commission.
“She came and she informed me… that she had requested or instructed the acting Treasurer of the council to hand over the documents to her and the Treasurer indicated to her that the documents are sensitive financial information and she cannot hand over that to the Commission,” he said.
“Subsequently, she wrote and said that at some committee at the council that a decision was taken for the documents to be sent straight to the Auditor General’s office,” he added.
Mingo said the Commission took the developments seriously since clear instructions were given and not carried out. Mingo said that as a result the Commission met and agreed to send the Town Clerk on administrative leave. He said following the Town Clerk being sent on leave, the Human Resources Department of the Commission will be dealing with the matter. “Until we conclude this matter, then we will call her back and take a decision on what we’re going to do,” he added.
Auditor General Deodat Sharma had previously told this newspaper that some of the documents were submitted to the Audit Office.
