More arrests expected in probe of Manchester Parish Council
MANCHESTER, Jamaica – Director of Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) Senior Superintendent Cleon March said yesterday that a probe into alleged fraud at the Manchester Parish Council will accelerate tomorrow.
He suggested that there could be more arrests.
Two people, including an employee of the parish council, were arrested on Friday, though they have not been formally charged.
“By about Monday, things will pick up,” March told OBSERVER ONLINE. When pressed, he added: “We want to arrest some more persons.”
In early morning, last Friday, personnel from the Office of the Contractor General, supported by the Financial Investigations Division and investigators from MOCA, conducted what was described as “a major coordinated search and seizure operation” at the homes of at least three senior parish council officials as well as the parish council offices.
MOCA said “several search warrants were executed at various premises” and “documents, cash and electronic devices relating to the investigation were seized”.
In a statement yesterday, Mayor of Mandeville and chairman of the Manchester Parish Council Brenda Ramsay (PNP- Bellefield Division) noted that the normal services of the parish council had been disrupted and called for the public’s understanding.
“We are not at this time aware of when the investigations will be concluded. But to the extent that they will likely interrupt the normal activities of the council, we ask the public’s understanding and hope to return to normal operations as soon as possible,” Ramsay said.
In addition to the disruption of normal service, Ramsay said she had been informed “that several documents, computers and other equipment were removed from the offices …”.
She emphasised that “the Manchester Parish Council finds no fault with any regulatory investigating body conducting audits and investigations and to the extent that there may be reports of irregularities we more than welcome” such probes.
Nonetheless, the Mandeville mayor made it clear she was displeased with the manner in which aspects of the operation was conducted.
“I was alerted to the fact that the acting secretary manager’s house had been visited by a team from MOCA and the Office of the Contractor General and a search was conducted. Personal records and computers were taken and his telephone confiscated. It is unfortunate that this took place in the presence of his wife and two young children, ages three and seven, who were traumatised by the presence of several armed police officers. They in fact produced a search warrant and indicated that this was pursuant to an investigation by the Office of the Contractor General. It has come to my attention that similar searches were conducted at the acting director of Finance and the deputy superintendent of Works …” Ramsay said.
Garfield Myers