The Housing Development Corporation (HDC) Allocations Manager Lauren Legall has referred a matter regarding Housing Minister Marlene Mc Donald to the Integrity Commission and the Commissioner of Police.
Yesterday, Legall, who was earlier this month placed on administrative leave by the board of the HDC, claimed to have received a letter from the Human Resources Department of the Corporation.
The letter, which was obtained by the Guardian, contains a request for Legall to return the allocation file of Michael Carew.
Opposition Wayne Sturge, in a letter to the integrity Commission this week, described Carew as Mc Donald’s partner.
Earlier this week, Sturge requested that the commission investigate whether Mc Donald used her influence as Minister in 2008 to secure the allocation of an HDC house to Mr Carew.
Mc Donald was Minister of Community Development at the time.
Emily Gaynor Dick Forde was the then Housing Minister.
Sturge presented documents written from then advisor to Dick Forde, Odette Alexander to the HDC requesting the allocation.
Alexander refused to comment on the matter.
Dick Forde has not answered calls to her mobile phone.
In a three-page response to the HDC’s letter, Legall raised concerns about what she described as unusual inquiries from Mc Donald.
She claimed that sometime in November, Mc Donald made enquiries as to the status of the deed for Mr Michael Carew.
She claimed McDonald had informed her that Carew had paid in full for a unit at the Fidelis Heights Housing Development since 2008 and had not received the deed for the property.
“I am not accustomed to a Minister making inquiries of a particular applicant and as such I considered this request unusual but it being a request from the Honorable Minister I proceeded to make inquiries to ascertain the status of the deed of Mr Carew,” Legall wrote.
She claimed to have located the file and brought it to the attention of the minister.
According to the document, Legall claimed to have informed Mc Donald that the relevant correspondence had been sent to the attorneys responsible for preparing the deeds for the Fidelis Heights Development, advising that payment had be prepared and Mr Carew be contacted. .to
She claimed Mc Donald handed her a receipt from law firm Gopeesingh, Martineau, Edwards and company which indicated that Carew had paid the necessary attorneys fees for preparation of the deed.
She said the document Mc Donald gave to her had not been in the file earlier that day.
She said she collected the deed from the attorneys office and presented the copy to Mc Donald and another copy was placed in the customer’s file.
Legall denied knowledge of the file’s whereabouts.
“The file remained in my office up to when I proceeded on vacation on the evening of December 10, 2015.
Mc Donald did not respond to phone calls or a text message this evening, but she had previously told the Guardian that she was not the owner of the house.
The Minister is currently on vacation and expected to return next week.
Asked whether Government had discussed the allegations made against Mc Donald, Communications Minister Maxie Cuffie said he was not aware that there had been any discussions on that matter.