The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

THE investigation into a “fraudulent” scheme at the Department of Social Services in which several employees purchased groceries using food coupons has been forwarded to the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Social Services Minister Melanie Griffin said yesterday.

Mrs Griffin told The Tribune that the scheme, brought to light last month by Auditor General Terrence Bastian’s damning report on the Department of Social Services’ (DOSS) internal controls “is something that is all in the hands of the police now, so they will have the opportunity to do their jobs.”

Mrs Griffin’s comments came three weeks after it was revealed that staff members at the department participated in a scheme in which they used $1,034 worth of food coupons intended for Bahamians on welfare to purchase groceries. By using the coupons for ten different clients, several employees of the DOSS were able to obtain grocery items on August 30, 2015.

In his report, Mr Bastian and his team also criticised the Department of Social Services for “gross negligence” in allowing $4.237m to be paid to suppliers without proper authorisation, exposing it to potential fraud and corruption.

A day after the report was tabled in Parliament, Mrs Griffin said further investigations would be made into the matter; however, she could not confirm whether or not the investigation would be an internal or external one. About a week later, Chief Superintendent Clayton Fernander said police had not yet been called in to investigate the matter.

When questioned yesterday on the matter, Mrs Griffin said: “Since the report has been completed we are now in a position to take further action. What we’ve done has always been a process. First of all we took steps under the rules and regulations of the public service, and we’ve also proceeded with forwarding the matter to the police for their further investigation.

“…So that is something that is all in the hands of the police now, so they will have the opportunity to do their jobs.”

Mrs Griffin also said while the matter is of great concern to the Ministry of Social Services, it ultimately points to “a systemic problem in our country where we are trying to operate a 21st century on a 15th or 16th century system”.

“The system is archaic, and it is open for abuse, and that is what is happening. That does not justify it, but what I’m saying is that we have to deal with that.

“And my ministry has been dealing very comprehensively with ensuring that we modernise the system, and that is the reason why we would have introduced the prepaid card, whereby we’ve also putting in place the RISE programme, where we computerised all the centres and there’s ongoing training.

“And so we expect to be able to mitigate against opportunities for fraud.”

Mr Bastian’s report - covering the period July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2015 - exposed a litany of internal weaknesses in the department’s accounting section and raised questions about how effectively top officials were providing oversight and management during the period in question.

The report also highlighted internal weaknesses in which money is sometimes used to pay for services that clients don’t receive, contributing not only to waste of public funds but compromising of the health of clients as well.