Former Mayor was fed information on Town Clerk’s corrupt dealings

Former Mayor Patricia Chase-Green received information about the actions of embattled Town Clerk, Royston King, who was sent on leave to facilitate a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the operations of City Hall.

Chase-Green who was not returned as Mayor, but remains on the Council, was voted in as deputy chair of the Council’s Finance Committee when the new Council met on Friday following Local Government Elections on November 12. The CoI report identified a businessman who was a constant visitor to the Mayor.

According to the report, the businessman was feeding Chase-Green with what he believes to be vital information regarding the Town Clerk’s corrupt dealings with city businessmen. According to the report, the businessman believed that a city businessman paid the Town Clerk to waive some $80M of taxes.

The businessman also related to the CoI that King was having insider dealings with some contractors who were paid extravagant costs. The CoI listed Chris Duggan, Richard Mittelholzer (the Mayor’s son), Brian and Ingrid Chase, Cleon Chung, Francis Anderson aka Brother and Oric Obermuller as the contractors. These names appeared on a list of contractors provided to the CoI by the Acting Town Clerk, Sharon Harry-Munroe.

The businessman also indicated that there is a possible collaboration between the Mayor, the Town Clerk, an officer of the City Engineer’s Department and some Councillors.

“It also appears as if there is collusion between the Mayor, the Town Clerk and the Chairman of the Finance and Human Resource Management Committees,” the CoI report stated. According to the report, King and other officers including, Chase-Green appeared to have committed the tort of misfeasance and should be dealt with in that context.

The CoI which was headed by Justice Cecil Kennard (ret’d) pointed out that in Guyana, public servants are in the habit of committing civil wrongs against the state and go unpunished for these wrongdoings. Kennard pointed out to the Local Government Commission (LGC) which ordered the CoI, that the Council by law is a body corporate. He stated that this imposes a strict duty on the Councillors and Officers of the Council to act in accordance with provisions of the Public Corporations Act Cap. 19:05 of the Laws of Guyana and the Companies Act Cap. 89:01.

In respect of the Companies Act, Kennard noted that the Town Clerk and Mayor are bound to follow the provision of section 59 which gives the power to manage the affairs to the officers, managers and directors. “Therefore they ought to manage the affairs of the Council in accordance with the provisions of Section 96 of the Companies Act, by acting honestly, exercising due diligence care and skill in the given circumstances.,” Kennard stated. He noted that while the Council may want to contemplate the reversal of certain contracts, care has to be taken, that this is to be done in accordance with section 93 of the Companies Act, which states that contracts can be set aside for the failure to disclose interest in same.

The CoI found that there are several contracts issued to friends, families and close associates of senior members of the Council.

(Kaieteur News)