Ministry asks cops to probe alleged fraud complaints against Deeds Registrar

Less than one week after she was sent on administrative leave, Registrar Azeema Baksh has been reported to the police for allegedly making a fraudulent payment to herself of over $4M and waiving revenue due to the registry, according to the Chambers of the AttorneyGeneral and Ministry of Legal Affairs Basil Williams SC.

A statement that was released by the ministry yesterday announced that it had referred complaints made by staff and their call for an investigation into alleged financial improprieties committed by Baksh to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police through Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum.

Contacted yesterday, Baksh, a lawyer by profession, told Stabroek News that she preferred to respond to the allegations through her attorney.

The Ministry of Legal Affairs’ statement said that both the human resources and accounting departments of the registry complained that as head of the budget agency and sole person in authority to approve and sign off the payroll of the Deeds and Commercial Registries Authority and one of the main signatories on the authority’s bank account, Baksh allegedly “unlawfully paid herself gratuity well knowing she was a pensionable employee having been appointed by the Judicial Services Commission (JSC).”

She also allegedly unlawfully paid herself a higher salary than was approved by the JSC.

The statement added that officers also disclosed that the payments started since 2014 and continued up to the present and amount to nearly four and half million dollars ($4.5M).

Further, the statement said that Baksh also waived the sum of a little over $7M that was due to the registry. It explained that the sum of $8.5 million was “unlawfully waived” upon the request of

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