Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Cecelia Greaves-Smith, yesterday testified before the Public Accounts Committee (PCA) that prior to 2014 there had been lapses in the ministry's financial regulations governing the storage of negotiable instruments, such as cheques, and that the process used to issue these documents were not up to standard.
Appearing before the six-member committee, chaired by Dr Bhoe Tewarie, in the Parliament building, Greaves-Smith said since her transfer to the ministry last September, security measures have been increased.
Greaves-Smith also spoke of the problems they were encountering to have fireproof safes and cabinets installed at the ministry's offices located at Tower C, Port-of-Spain waterfront.
She explained that they were informed by the Urban Development Corporation of T&T (Udecott) that the capacity of the building "could be compromised" by the weight of these items.
She added they were depending on the project manager's advice on the placement of these pieces of furniture to ensure maximum security measures were in place.
However, she said they had already installed fireproof cabinets and introduced several new requirements relating to the issuance and collection of cheques by contractors and members of the public, as well as the installation of security cameras in key areas to monitor internal operations.
Accompanied by heads of departments yesterday, Greaves-Smith was the only one in the line of fire as Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon sought to get answers relating to the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of 74 blank cheques; the issuance of 12 cheques which totaled $844,000; the absence of ten contracts for which payments totaling $5 million were made; and the status of four vouchers totaling $2 million that had been issued towards the cruise initiative which was still in the pipeline.
Greaves-Smith said the Fraud Squad had been called in to investigate after some of the blank cheques turned up in the system, bearing another ministry's name.
Unable to provide the committee with an update as they had not received any feedback from the lead investigators, Greaves-Smith said although stop orders were issued by the Central Bank some of the cheques were cashed and that the police were yet to locate the perpetrators as some of the transactions had been done at the Treasury and others at a bank.
UDECOTT EXPLAINS
Contacted yesterday regarding Greaves-Smith's evidence that the structural capacity of the building they currently occupied, could be compromised by the addition of fire-proof safes and vaults, technical experts within Udecott explained that there were certain weight requirements for multi-storey buildings that had to be adhered to.
The officers explained that there were architectural requirements for each multi-storey building that was constructed and that the inclusion of fire-proof cabinets, safe and vaults had to be factored into building plans prior to construction so certain areas could be reinforced.
Reassuring that all the buildings along the Port-of-Spain waterfront were indeed structurally sound, Udecott experts said they were careful to advise each client as to the layout of the offices and placement of furniture in order to preserve the structural integrity of the buildings.