Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) deputy political leader Farley Augustine has called on the police to start an investigation into alleged food card fraud in the Tobago House of Assembly.
Augustine was responding to questions from Newsday following the Auditor General's report on the island's public accounts, for October 2019 to September 2020, which has unearthed discrepancies in several divisions.
The report addressed the THA’s handling of state-funded covid19 relief including rental assistance, food hampers valued $658,430 and $7.8 million worth of food cards.
According to the report, the THA’s Division of Health, Wellness and Family Development received covid19 food hampers and vouchers totalling $658,430.
The auditor general’s department also noted discrepancies with respect to covid19 food card releases, which were managed by the Division of Finance and the Economy. It said at the onset of the pandemic, an executive council minute, dated March 25, 2020, authorised the purchase of 15,000 food cards for the Emergency Social Assistance Cards Programme at a total cost of $7,866,000, to augment the existing programme.
The report raised red flags about accountability and the lack of documentation to be certain the food cards – paid for by taxpayers – reached the intended targets.
Former PNM assemblyman Sheldon Cunningham had raised the issue in 2020 saying: "Please let us do this right. You can't be giving out cards to people without documentation."
He said declaration forms had not been signed and the issue had been reported to Chief Secretary Ancil Dennis.
"I hope this is dealt with quickly because we don't want this to be a thorn in thistle later on," Cunningham said.
However, Dennis on May 26 called for more evidence from Cunningham after analysing his initial complaint.
Dennis said, "Allegations are only allegations until facts and evidence are provided...I also spoke to an individual who was in receipt of a food card and so far, I have found that there is no evidence to suggest that the process was fraudulent or corrupt in anyway.”
Augustine on Monday questioned how thorough Dennis' investigation was.
"It shows there was no real investigation."
"I had raised the issue where political hacks were giving out food cards willy-nilly. I raised the issue that food cards were part of the the PNM campaign machinery like if the funds came from Balisier House," Augustine said.
"The auditor general report showed I was right, Cunningham was right and there was no real investigation."
Augustine said the police should now get involved to conduct their own probe and let the chips fall where they may.
He lamented the lack of accountability within the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) owing to the 6-6 stalemate caused by the tied January 25 THA election.
He said the covid19 pandemic has caused a social services crisis which the THA has failed to address properly.
"There should have been a careful assessment of people's needs. Instead, food cards were used as election machinery."
He warn
