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Police probe $20M-plus rates and tax fraud at Grove/Diamond NDC
A major fraud at the Grove/Diamond Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) involving rates and taxes has been uncovered and the police have been called in.
The Grove NDC office, East Bank Demerara.
According to Region Four officials last week, the Regional Executive Officer (REO), the police and the Ministry of Communities have been apprised of the matter.
The fraud was reportedly uncovered by councillors a few weeks ago after routine checks.
It is believed that staffers, including one involved in collecting rates and taxes, allegedly hatched a scheme to steal the monies. The theft took place over a period of 18 months.
Using books similar to what the NDC has, the staffers reportedly issued receipts to unsuspecting residents of the Grove and Diamond areas.
However, under tighter monitoring by the new NDC elected last year, checks by councillors reportedly uncovered anomalies with the serial numbers on the receipts. The numbers printed on the receipts issued to a number of homeowners had them printed differently from what the NDC had.
Checks later made found that more than $20M did not make it into the NDC accounts over an 18 month period. A number of persons have been questioned into the fraud.
It is not the first time that NDCs have been facing fraud investigations. A number of overseers in the past have been under investigations but nothing much has come out.
With lax record-keeping and a seeming unwillingness to go after delinquent rates and taxes payers, many of the NDCs which were without elections for almost two decades pending law reforms, were in poor condition.
However, elections last year have brought fresh hopes with new faces as councillors largely in place.
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