One crook fingered in Falmouth Market racket, says mayor
WESTERN BUREAU: FOLLOWING INVESTIGATIONS into a racket led by employees of the Trelawny Municipal Corporation, which saw hundreds of thousands of dollars in weekly market fees being siphoned off at the new Falmouth Market, Mayor Collen Gager says one of the crooks has been identified.
“We have investigated the matter and one worker has been identified as the chief person involved in the scam,” Gager told The Gleaner yesterday. “The investigations are continuing, and depending on what is uncovered, the police may be called in.”
Gager said that based on the findings of a probe so far, he and Andrew Harrison, the corporation’s CEO, had decided that the best way to fix the problem is to have a complete shake-up of the market’s management and employees.
“We have decided not only to remove the workers suspected to be involved in collecting fees racket, but also to put a new market management team in place, ”said Gager. “We believe that instead of trying to fix a broken system, it is better to put a new system in place.”
Some of the affected workers are not pleased with the broad-brush approach the mayor has taken, arguing that based on the ongoing investigations, they believed that the mayor should know the culprits.
The new Falmouth Market, which hosts 700 vendors at a weekly fee of $2,000, should be pulling in roughly $1.4 million weekly, but last week, the mayor told The Gleaner that the municipal corporation was collecting less than half of that amount.
“At the new market, with over 700 registered vendors, we are barely collecting $600,000,” Gager revealed, with up to $800,000 weekly vanishing into thin air.
A sting operation by the municipal corporation revealed that hundreds of vendors were being allowed to operate without proof of officially paying the required fees.
“Di mayor know di thief dem, but him decide fi turn a blind eye and just pressure wi fi pay di $2,000 a week fi di little 4x4 stalls, which can’t even hold a quarter of we goods,” one vendor, who believes that Gager’s priorities are misplaced, told The Gleaner yesterday.
However, when the vendor’s concern was put to the mayor, he readily acknowledged that the stalls were small but said the matter was poised to get urgent attention.
“We will be building some 12x12 stalls, some 15 of them to accommodate those vendors classified as wholesalers,” said Gager. “Hopefully, that should ease their concerns.”
Gager also noted that the plan to create a cashless system at the market to limit the scope for revenue going into the wrong pockets is still under active consideration.
“The plan to introduce card payment in conjunction with a major bank is being negotiated,” said Gager. “We are hoping to have that system in place as early as possible.”