Suspect held for missing Drug Court funds

A female secretary employed to the justice ministry is now under probe in relation to the disappearance of $797,000 from the coffers of the Drug Court Rehabilitation Programme.

The ministry last week summoned the police to investigate the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the sum after its internal auditors found discrepancies.

Permanent Secretary Robert Rainford, in a statement issued at the time, said a strong message would have to be sent that such behaviour would not be tolerated.

Yesterday, a source within the ministry told the Observer that the individual in question, who has been employed to the agency from 2006 and had custody of the funds for that programme since 2009, was interviewed by the police last week.

"The person has been interdicted by the Office of the Services Commission and sent on half-pay leave," the Observer was told.

While the investigations are not yet complete, it appears that the money was siphoned off sometime between 2009 and the present. Funding of just over $1.4 million had been allocated for the programme.

"We don't know exactly (if it was taken all at once or at intervals). It was at this point in time during the audit [that] it was recognised that the Court has passed on to the Rehab programme this amount of funds, and when we checked back we could only account for $600,000. So the investigation will tell us, but there is a shortage," the source said.

The Drug Court Rehabilitation Programme is a joint initiative of the ministries of justice and health. The programme operates within the legal framework of the Drug Court (Treatment and Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act of 2001.

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