Albion Estate supervisor at centre of fraud investigaton
A supervisor from the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) Albion Estate, Berbice, has been accused of fraud at his workplace.
The supervisor is said to have entered workers’ names for payment although they did not work.
Paul Bhim, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GuySuCo told Kaieteur News Friday that while the police are directly involved in this matter the sugar company has also launched internal investigations.
“We have out auditors, the internal auditors who are working to discover if other persons were involved in this act. While the police are involved, we are carrying out further investigations. We want to see if there are others who participate in such wrong doings,” said Bhim.
Kaieteur News understands that as at Wednesday, last, the amount of money that the supervisor received through fraudulent actions was $430,000.
It is still unclear as to whether he fleeced workers and the company of more money.
According to a number of workers, the official and others were a part of a “wider scheme” that involved malpractice in GuySuCo in general, and more specifically- the Albion Sugar Estate.
One worker had told this newspaper that the last incident mainly concerned workers’ holiday with pay.
He (the worker) stated that he had not worked and was not aware that his salary was being sent to the pay-office.
This publication understands that the man did not withdraw his money that it was his supervisor who withdrew the sum of money.
Later the worker received a telephone call from the supervisor informing him of the payments and instructions about what he should say if he was questioned.
The worker claimed that this incident occurred last week Wednesday and that later that evening another manager attached to the Albion Estate accompanied by two foremen visited his home to conduct a search.
Nothing was unearthed from this search, however; the manager “made” him sign a document confessing that he had not worked and had no knowledge of the salary prepared for him.
When this worker visited the pay-office on Friday, last, to uplift his pay he received 46 twenty-dollar notes.
Upon enquiring from the manager present at the pay office about this he was told to report to the estate office on Monday for enquiries.
Another person told Kaieteur News that there were records where payments were being issued in the name of a deceased person.