A financial officer at the Road Traffic Department has alleged that “phantom-like” accounting practices are taking place in the government agency, and urged that a “doll house operation” that exists within it be shut down.
He was referring to an unofficial ‘accounting unit’ that was separate from the main accounting office, according to the report obtained by The Nassau Guardian.
The financial officer said in the report that when the unofficial unit was compared to the main office, there were ‘reportable conditions’.
“These conditions are reportable because there is no segregation of duties and responsibilities [in the unit], as well as there is decentralization, thus controls are almost non-existent,” he wrote.
The financial officer also wrote that up to August 2011, the de-facto accounting unit had been in operation for at least two years.
The financial officer said the figures coming out of this unit “indicate ineffectiveness and that figures don’t lie, people do”.
He also wrote in the report to the government’s top financial officers, “I cannot sit in idleness by and allow persons to use their superficial intelligence and position of power to manipulate the accounting process, therefore I am seeking an immediate transfer.”
In another report, the financial officer alleged that the user IDs of employees who left the department years ago — including that of former road traffic controller and current Gardens Hills MP Brensil Rolle — were used to issue hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of driver’s licenses last year.
In Rolle’s case, his user ID accessed the system as recently as November 1 of last year, despite him being out of the department for several years, said the officer in the report sent to Treasurer Eugenia Cartwright, Financial Secretary Ehurd Cunningham and Auditor General Terrance Bastian on December 12, 2011.
Rolle left the department in 2005, and was replaced by now Director of Immigration Jack Thompson.
Last night, Rolle said he was flabbergasted by the allegation.
“That should be impossible. I shouldn’t even have anything related to a password or an ID. The very week that I left licenses were issued under the signature of Jack Thompson,” said Rolle, who emphatically stated that he could not speak to any issues that occurred at the department after he left.
The report emerged as a result of efforts by the officer to reconcile the driver’s license issuing system and the cash receipting system for the period between July 1 and November 30 last year, the report claimed.
The report also claimed that a user ID of an employee who left the department more than 10 years ago had been used to issue at least $249,000 worth of driver’s licenses and was last used to access the system on November 30.
In another instance, the user ID of an employee who has reportedly been stationed at another agency for over two years, last accessed the system on November 30, and issued licenses valued at $29,275.
The department is supposed to collect fees on driver’s licenses printed.
However, the officer claims he was unable to reconcile the number of driver’s licenses issued and the cash received for them.
“There are four main users who print driver’s licenses in the driver’s license unit, however, evidence (indicates) that they have access to 48 user IDs,” wrote the officer. “The main user IDs account for about 22.24 percent of the dollar value of driver’s licenses printed, whereas the supposed dead/inactive user IDs account for some 77.76 percent of the dollar value of drivers licenses printed.”
The department printed nearly $1,000,000 worth of driver’s licenses during a five-month period last year, according to the officer.
Juan McCartney
Nassau Guardian Senior Reporter
