The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

ACTING Deputy Commissioner Anthony Ferguson said yesterday that police are investigating claims of fraud at the Department of Social Services as revealed in a recent report by the Auditor-General.

Mr Ferguson sought to clarify the confusion over the matter as he had told reporters on Tuesday that the police were not investigating the claims. His turnaround follows an announcement by Social Services Minister Melanie Griffin, who said she had forwarded the matter to the authorities.

Mr Ferguson explained that complaints related to the matter did not come directly to the Office of the Commissioner, but were “rerouted”. He maintained that an investigation was launched after the request was made on May 11th.

“Now there is an active investigation into it,” he said.

Auditor General Terrance Bastian, in his report, concluded that some staff members of the DSS participated in a fraudulent scheme using food coupons intended for Bahamians on welfare to purchase groceries.

One staff member has already been fired after admitting to participating while two others have been put on administrative leave.

By using the coupons for 10 different clients, several employees of the DOSS were able to obtain grocery items on August 30, 2015.

“The store’s name as printed on the coupons had been manually crossed out and replaced with an existing food store’s name,” Mr Bastian said.

Mr Bastian’s report also exposed a litany of weaknesses in the DSS’ accounting department and raised questions about how effectively top officials provided oversight and management for the period July 2013 and June 2015.