MAYOR of Portmore Keith Hinds says there is no truth to allegations that officers of the council sold containers which were seized from scores of business operators evicted from Government-owned lands in Gregory Park last February and have not accounted for the money.

He was responding to a statement by the former mayor, George Lee.

"It (Lee's statement) gives the indication that some impropriety went on in the council and he needs to apologise to the council for that," Hinds said.

However, Lee made it clear yesterday that he had no apology to make as he did not name anyone and reiterated his call for the council to either give an account for the containers or if person or persons benefited from their illegal sale they be held accountable. He added that the public defender should be completing his investigations into the matter soon and hope his findings will reveal the facts about the containers.

Last February, members of the council and workmen accompanied by a large contingent of police, went to the location where they demolished structures and removed several containers housing small business establishments.

The business operators later took Mayor Hinds and the Portmore Municipal Council to task over the disappearance of the containers.

Hinds said that he was aware that members of the council had their own concerns about the conduct of officers who were involved in the operation, but claimed that Lee's statements, which were made on a television newscast, could incite violence against council staff.

Hinds, at the same time, cautioned against such statements leading up to the local government election which is expected to be held in March.

"If you are campaigning, campaign on facts not on a 'sympathy move' on the part of certain people and not on comments that will get the attention of persons," Hinds insisted.

He said that the council will await the findings of the public defender who has since launched an investigation made into claims by the disgruntled operators that their containers were stolen.

"I know the Public Defender is investigating the matter and hence I refuse to speak much more on the matter until he has completed his own investigation and makes a report to me," he said.

Hinds said that the land was given to the municipality by the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and should have been cleared of the illegal occupants before being handed over to the council.

Hinds said that had it been the council which was in charge of the eviction, the containers would have been taken to the Greater Portmore Police Station for storage as has been the case in other operations.

"My understanding why they were not placed there was because it was not a council operation but subsequent to that we saw a document that said the UDC would have handed the operation over to the council and my information from persons involved was that they were not aware of that communication at that time," he said.

While the investigation is going on, Hinds said, no one should say it is a criminal investigation.

People's National Party councillor for the Edgewater Division Alric Campbell, while not providing much detail, claimed that evidence suggested that collusion of some sort went on in the disappearance of the containers.

He said that collectively the council had a responsibility for that operation because the Portmore municipality knew that it would be receiving the lands from the UDC. "The investigation, whether it is criminal or not, will certainly lead to some more truth coming out," he said.

Both Campbell and Hinds admitted that there had been some political fallout as a result of how the situation was handled by the council and the political directorate.

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