Members of the Law Association will hold an emergency meeting at the Hall of Justice, Port-of-Spain, today to determine whether an employee should be reported to the Fraud Squad. The members also will be asked whether, in light of the fact that large sums are missing from its accounts, nominations for the Law Association elections should be reopened. A statement of the council of the Law Association to its membership on the association's accounts for the financial year ending January 31, 2012 has revealed huge sums drawn on the association's account and compensation fund could not be accounted for. They amounted to $284,696. The 12-page statement said on April 6 the council issued a statement to members advising there was a "situation at hand" involving the association's funds and that an emergency audit committee had been appointed.
It comprised three members of the council and three non-council members, They are:
• Retired judge Roger Hamel-Smith;
• Deborah Peake, SC;
• Prem Samodee;
• Theresa Hadad-Maraj;
• Sophia Vailloo; and
• Haran Ramkaransingh.
The committee was mandated to review the accounts for the financial year and recommend what action should be taken as a result of its findings. The statement said between April 6 and 12, the council members of the emergency committee, supervised by the non-council members, searched an office and a computer at the association's headquarters, St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain, and talked with executive and staff members and the association's bank. Fingers have been pointed at an employee who has not admitted to wrongdoing. The committee recommended its report should not be made available to the membership, "given the sensitivity and the implications of the matters reported on therein." The council agreed to give only a summary and urged its members not to make the contents public, "given the potential for civil and/or criminal proceedings." The association's president Dana Seetahal said yesterday the intention of the association was not to cover up any wrongdoing. "We are not sweeping anything under the carpet," she said in a telephone interview. "We will bring this issue, like all issues, to the wide membership and if there are any fallouts, then we would accept that. Let the chips fall where they may," she added. Confirming today's meeting, she said financial statements were expected to be presented for February 1, 2011 to January 31, 2012."At the meeting we would be asking whether a report should be made to the relevant authorities, specifically to this matter, and what is the process to have the funds given back to us," Seetahal added.
She said she never signed any blank cheques during her term as president, adding: "I have committed no impropriety." The report said the emergency committee had verified that the association's internal financial controls "regrettably collapsed" during the financial year ending January 31, 2012. The council of the association did not sanction that breakdown, said the statement, but "recognises the shortcomings of certain members of council which caused or contributed to this unfortunate situation and accepts that council had a collective responsibility that all executive functions are properly carried out." The emergency committee pointed out that the majority of council members only became aware of the breakdown in these internal controls in or around February or March, when the council immediately took action. The emergency committee discovered money had been withdrawn from bank accounts and cheques written but not used for the association's expenses and association funds had been deposited on the personal credit card of a staff member. Blank cheques were signed and the amounts later filled out were not verified with invoices or receipts, it was stated. The committee found the internal financial controls had collapsed because, among other things, returned cheques were not reviewed nor were bank accounts reconciled.
Payment vouchers were not made out at the time the expenses were undertaken or were not prepared at all, it was found. Several vouchers produced to support expenditure were rejected on the basis of irregularity, the statement added. The auditor had difficulty in preparing quarterly reports because of the resulting lack of documentation and the lack of co-operation from one member of staff, it said. The council concluded that "criminal and/or civil proceedings to recover the misappropriated funds are appropriate." The council thought it "prudent," however, to leave it to the association's membership to decide "whether the matter should be reported to the relevant authorities and whether counsel should be retained to advise whether civil action ought to be taken and against whom." The statement added that the council was concerned that at the time when nominations for the Law Association elections were closed, members would not have been aware of the loss of the funds. The loss, and the responsibility for it, however, were relevant to how members might vote, since some current members of the council were running for re-election, the statement said. The council noted: "Council, therefore,considers it prudent to ask the membership now to decide and to direct whether the nominations can and/or should be reopened."
The emergency committee made recommendations for measures to be taken to ensure transparency and accountability in future. These included computerising accounting systems, ensuring that vouchers were signed by the recipient of the payment, and stopping the practice of leaving blank cheques with secretarial staff or executive members. It said the practice of using an employee's personal credit cards should never be permitted. The committee suggested all vouchers for more than $10,000 should be signed by a member of the executive and cheques for more than $100,000 should be signed by three signatories.