Despite a court order, the Ministry of Education is yet to recoup money to cover the cost of stolen fuel by a former employee, according to Permanent Secretary Alfred King.
King made the disclosure to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) during the scrutiny of the findings of fraud in the Auditor General’s reports for 2017 and 2018.
According to King, while the former employee, Mark Samuels, of 276 South Ruimveldt, George-town was found guilty of the charges of fraudulently obtaining a little over $1 million in diesel from GuyOil and he was ordered to repay the sum, no payment has been made since the matter was concluded in 2020.
King explained that the Ministry will have to report back to the court. He stated that efforts by the Ministry to contact Samuels has proven futile.
He informed the PAC that under the court order the ministry was expected to meet with Samuels and work out a reasonable repayment scheme. How-ever, King explained that this was never done since they were unable to establish contact with the man.
According to the charge, between December 12, 2017 and January 7, 2018, at Georgetown, with intent to defraud, Samuels obtained $1,054,789 in diesel from GuyOil on Regent Street by presenting a cheque in the name of Clyde Fowler, knowing same to be forged.
During questioning, it was revealed by the Audi-tor General Deodat Sharma that Chief Accountant at the Ministry of Education at the time should have been able to identify the transgressions. With verification done every month between GuyOil and the Ministry, Sharma said, the ministry should have been able to detect the wrongdoings immediately
However, King explain-ed that at the time of the audit, the ministry had already conducted a preliminary investigation via its internal audit department. He stated that all the findings from that investigation was handed over to the Auditor General Office and the police were later called to conduct a criminal investigation based on the findings.
He also told the PAC that since the findings, system changes have been implemented to prevent such events from recurring.
The 2017 Auditor General report stated that six vehicles not registered as property of the Ministry of Education were used to uplift 4,351 litres of diesel valued $788,773 from GUYOIL’s Regent Street location in December 2017 on thirteen occasions. “This indicated that on average, in excess of one ‘45 gallons’ drum was uplifted on each occasion. We could not determine the basis on which such quantities of fuel were uplifted, and whether it was in the public’s interest,” the report states.
King yesterday explained that the ministry has not been able to establish who all the vehicles were registered to as some had fake number plates, making it difficult to track the owners.
From his explanation after a perusal of the police report, it was suggested that the fuel slips permitting an officer to obtain fuel at GuyOil location were stolen and fraudulently signed.
One of the six vehicles was registered to the father of the accused, the PAC heard. The fuel obtained was taken to the Demerara Ice Company, where it was purchased from Samuels.
Businesswoman Lillian Akeung was also charged back in 2018 for obtaining the fuel.
It was alleged that between December 12th, 2017 and January 7th, 2018, at Georgetown, Akeung received pails of diesel, valued at $427,677, from Samuels, knowing same to have been stolen or unlawfully obtained from the Ministry of Education.
King went on to state that, they relied on the police who have the competency and skills his ministry does not possess to conduct the necessary investigations.
He added that there was no recommendation to go after any other individual to recoup the money lost.
