PARLIAMENT’S Public Accounts Committee (PAC) wants a report from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) by next Tuesday, on how two cheques for education grants valued at nearly $600,000, ended up in the bank account of a project officer at the OPM between 2005 and 2006.

The cheques were issued by the Social Development Commission (SDC), on instructions from the Social and Economic Support Programme (SESP), in the OPM which funds constituency projects submitted by Members of Parliament for approval.

Director general in the OPM, Devon Rowe, wanted six more weeks to complete and present a report on the matter. But PAC chairman, Dr Omar Davies, demanded that the committee get some answers within six days.

“As the report is not being done under my supervision, I really find it very difficult to commit to having it by next week,” Rowe said. He wanted to commit, instead, to providing an update and “some sort of summary” of what the report is indicating, next week.

But the PAC members were not satisfied with that.

Government member Peter Bunting suggested that he bring the report Tuesday in whatever form it is in.

“I think you have enough information, even one specific question to be answered if nothing else: how did you have a situation where two cheques, made out either to an institution or a bank, reached the account of an individual?” Dr Davies insisted.

The cheques should have been made payable to the educational institution attended by the beneficiaries, one of whom was a relative of the project officer.

Acting auditor general, Pamella Munroe, said that the project officer in both instances, “having received the cheques from the SESP deposited the amount in his own account.”

Neither the MP who made the request for the educational grant, nor the project officer were named. The project officer was employed in the SESP Unit, where the grants were approved. It is understood that he is no longer employed there.

The PAC members were incensed after the acting auditor general pointed out that the OPM must have been aware of the matter prior to September 2006.

Responding to questions from Minister of State for Labour and Social Security Andrew Gallimore, she said that there was communication between her office and the OPM on the issue since then.

The exchange was triggered by an observation in the AG’s 2006/2007 report that in one instance, an education benefit of $158,000 was approved by a project officer in the SESP Unit in the OPM, who is a close relative of the beneficiary and ended up in the project officer’s account instead of being paid directly to the educational institution.

The AG also observed that an education grant of $432,000 awarded to another beneficiary and approved by the same officer, was also illegally transferred to the same account. The AG also noted that there was no indication that the transactions were scrutinised and sanctioned by any superior officer.

The AG’s office advised the ministry that the direct involvement of the employee in the approval of benefits to a family member could be deemed as nepotism and should be avoided. The report said, however, that both amounts were subsequently remitted to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries over the periods October 2005 to June 2006 and May 2005 to February 2006.

Meanwhile, SDC executive director, Robert Bryan, said that the transaction was determined outside of the SDC. He said that the SESP Unit takes the decisions and then passed them on to the SDC who pays according

to instructions.