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Suspected $4.5M fraud at Eccles NDC…Overseer still missing, Enmore’s official sent packing
State auditors are set to complete their investigations into a multi-million dollar fraud at the Eccles/Ramsburg Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) but there are still no signs of the missing Overseer.
Speaking with reporters late last week, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Ganga Persaud, said that attempts were made to contact the overseer, Raul Kissoon, with police even turning up at his city home.
Still missing: Raul Kissoon
“We are prompting the Overseer and others to come in and have dialogue with us,” the Minister appealed.
Kissoon disappeared in January after just a few months on the job. Reportedly missing is $4.5M, representing rates and taxes paid by residents of Eccles, Bagotstown, Nandy Park and Republic Park, Peters Hall and Providence.
The Office of the Auditor General was called in after NDC officials could not make contact with Kissoon and were forced to break into his office. According to Minister Persaud, the Audit Office is finalizing its report on the investigations.
According to NDC officials, they had wanted money to pay urgent bills but the Overseer’s mobile phone was going to voicemail.
This newspaper has been told that the probe would have gone back as far as six months before Kissoon’s disappearance. He was last seen at the NDC office on January 14.
The $4.5M rates and taxes were collections made over several days, this newspaper was told.
It had been unclear why that much cash was left at the office as it was the practice, officials say, that cash be deposited daily at the banks.
The Local Government Ministry has been on a campaign to clean up NDCs and towns across the country as complaints continue to surface about corruption and neglect.
Several NDCs, at least 29 of the 65, have been replaced by Interim Management Committees (IMCs). Local government elections have not been held since 1994.
Meanwhile, the Minister also said that the Audit Office had completed a special examination at the Enmore NDC, East Coast Demerara. This was after red flags of possible wrongdoing were raised.
Some accounting breaches were found but no monies were missing. The Ministry has since parted “working relationship” with the Overseer for the breaches, he said.
The Audit Office found weaknesses in the accounting systems and these have since been tightened.
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