Finance Ministry contradicts Williams on surcharge action against Bernard and McLean
Published:Wednesday | January 5, 2022 | 5:30 PM
The Ministry of Finance has contradicted a report from the Ministry of Education that surcharge action has been instituted against its Permanent Secretary Dean-Roy Bernard and acting PS Dr Grace McLean.
In a statement this afternoon, the Finance Ministry said that it is currently in the process of gathering and reviewing information to inform an evaluation of the recommendation made by Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis for the surcharge of Bernard and McLean.
“At this time, no surcharge has been issued,” the ministry said.
Education, Youth and Information Minister Fayval Williams this morning said that the Finance Ministry had commenced surcharge action against the two embattled ministry officials after it was revealed that the Education Ministry was unable to account for $124 million of taxpayers' money.
She was speaking during a post-cabinet press briefing when she made the disclosure.
“Surcharge action was taken by the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service. Letters would have been written to our permanent secretary acting in that regard and I know that she has taken the necessary steps to deliver the letters that would have come to her,” Williams told journalists.
She said, however, that there has not yet been a recovery of the funds paid to the Cecil Cornwall-chaired Joint Committee on Tertiary Education (JCTE) over a 32-month period.
Monroe Ellis had made the recommendation in her report to Parliament in October on the allegation that both senior officials at the education ministry had failed in their fiduciary duty.
Monroe Ellis also recommended that the police or an anti-corruption agency further investigate the matter.
Williams subsequently announced that she had referred the matter to the chief technical director of the Financial Investigation Division.
She also wrote to director-general of the Major Organised Crime & Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA), Colonel Desmond Edwards, signalling that the ministry was available to provide any information needed in the probe.
Bernard had been previously transferred from the ministry and is currently locked in a court battle over the matter while McLean was sent on leave following the report.
Asked if McLean will be returning to the ministry this month and in what capacity, State Minister in the Education Ministry Robert Morgan said a determination will be made after the outcome of the investigations.
“It would be inappropriate for us to act without being empowered by the constituted authority. We also have to contemplate that persons have legal rights that they, under the Constitution and various statutes, benefit from,” he said.
“It would be highly improper to pronounce on somebody's future without being empowered by what is being done in terms of the investigation and so on.”
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