The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

A ROAD Traffic Department employee has been terminated and is expected to face prosecution after allegedly being implicated in a forgery investigation centred on several “fake” licences identified by the department’s new $8m automated system.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Local Government, Lorraine Symonette-Armbrister yesterday confirmed the sacking, adding the authorities had compiled enough information to pursue a case against the now former employee.

However, Assistant Commissioner of Police Paul Rolle, head of the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s Anti-Corruption Unit, refused to comment on the investigation when contacted.

Earlier this month, Road Traffic Controller Ross Smith confirmed the investigation, insisting at the time, the “ongoing problem” was first noticed in the months following its change in system.

Mr Smith said officials and general staff recognised that several drivers applying for renewed licences in the months since the system change possessed licence cards that either “looked wrong” or exhibited a lack of security details applied to the old cards.

He later said that five to six “fake cards” were identified in one week alone.

The Tribune understands dozens of “fake cards” have been identified over the course of the of the last five months.

The department’s new automated system was introduced in December of 2016 by the former Christie administration.

Mrs Symonette-Armbrister told The Tribune: “Details are still coming together on this, but as it stands, we have concluded on the person we think is responsible in the case. All of the information is now with the police, and we expect that they will move forward with prosecution in short order.”

She claimed senior officials within the ministry were working to determine if the former employee was hired by the Road Traffic Department, or whether the person was added to the department through the Ministry of Finance when it aided in the new system’s roll-out.

When asked about the total number of licences identified by the system, Mrs Symonette-Armbrister said she was unable to say, but noted the automated system is equipped to identify “any and all malfeasance”.

To that end, she added: “All reports I have come across indicated that we are moving in the right direction on this. One of the biggest thing with this new system is that we have all aspects of the operation covered and guarded against these types of actions.

“When Mr Smith told me that something was identified, I told him look into it and once he did, the system allowed him to circle and gather everything connected to this case. Very, very quick action and we got it all covered.”

In an audit conducted at the Road Traffic Department in 2016, Auditor General Terrence Bastian ruled the department was collecting as little as 36 percent of due vehicle licencing revenue on New Providence.

Mr Bastian and his team were unwilling to conclude the Road Traffic Department was collecting just over $1 out of every $3 vehicle licencing dollars due on New Providence, instead finding this revenue stream was being “under recorded by a minimum of $10.”

Mr Bastian and his team also found the department was in breach of its own Road Traffic Act, which requires it by law to maintain a register of all licenced motor vehicles, their owners, insurers and persons insured to drive them.

He called on the department to “revamp and tailor its processes” to capture such information.

Mr Bastian noted in his report on the department: “It is paramount to the sustainability of the Road Traffic Department that processes are controlled to enable the collection of all, revenue due to the government.”