Prevent parish council fraud

THE EDITOR, Sir:

I have heard the former mayor of Spanish Town making claims of financial mismanagement at the St Catherine Parish Council. These allegations are not new. What strikes me, Mr Editor, is that Jamaica is filled with so many 'Peeping Tom' committees, and yet nobody seems to be hearing or listening, or worse, the goodly doctor might be hallucinating.

But remember that 'when fish go a river bottom and seh something wrong ... .'

The contractor general, the spokesperson for the PNP on local government, and even the political ombudsman, have remained silent on the alleged corruption at our parish councils.

My brief moment as a worker at a parish council has left me numb as I discovered how easy it was to defraud money. Funds allocated to councils and their divisions are not strictly managed.

Support for allegations

I have been following the utterances of my councillor friends, and all their stories support the former mayor's allegations.

The following steps must be taken to guard against fraud:

1. Audit each department and parish-council division.

2. Employ the services of a forensic auditor and a reputable accounting firm as the insiders at councils are skilful at their 'accounting craft'.

3. Analyse each cheque's payee name, identification number, and address, and check the voters' list to see if these persons are listed.

4. Review returned cheques to find out which account cheques were lodged.

After that review, each councillor would have explained where the allocation was spent. Many will discover that funds had only passed through the division for the defrauder. Just check the street corners and rum bars and the names of the real thieves at parish councils will surface.

I am, etc.,

F. SMITH