Greene takes heat for KSAC 'sloppiness'
Published:Thursday | June 3, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Edmond Campbell, Senior Staff Reporter
TOWN CLERK Errol Greene was grilled on Tuesday by hard-hitting members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) as they queried how his former personal assistant walked off the job without repaying a significant part of a motor-vehicle loan to the parish council.
The former employee also owed sums for overpaid travelling allowance, bringing her total indebtedness to the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) to more than $800,000.
Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis told the committee that the former employee received the car loan and collected excess travelling allowance during the period March 2007 to May 2008.
What triggered a near uproar among members was the disclosure by Greene that a lien was not registered on the motor-vehicle title.
The ex-personal assistant to Greene, who had been employed to the KSAC for seven years, has migrated. The council has not been able to collect sums owed to it.
City treasurer at the KSAC, Lincoln Evans, advised the PAC that established rules were not followed when the motor-vehicle loan was granted to the personal assistant.
The officer at the council who approved the loan without ensuring proper checks and balances had been reprimanded, Greene said. Pressed on details about the reprimand, Green remained evasive on the punishment handed down.
However, the auditor general has recommended a surcharge be imposed on the officer.
Committee Chairman Dr Omar Davies had harsh words for Greene and his treasurer, describing the loan fallout as "particularly galling".
"The kindest interpretation is sloppiness," Davies charged.
Greene later told the committee that the KSAC discovered that the motor vehicle had been sold. He said in an email that the former employee acknowledged her indebtedness to the council but explained that she "fell on hard times".