$3M search

The Barbados Police Service (BPS) has been called in to help retrieve millions of dollars owed to the Government by persons who dishonestly obtained money intended for pensioners.

This was revealed in Government’s response to the latest Auditor General Report, which disclosed that additional efforts were being made to recoup more than $3 million. Just over $650 000 has been recovered so far.

In his2021 report, Auditor General Leigh Trotman revealed that $3.9 million had been paid out to 34 pensioners who had died.

“A review of the pension payroll revealed that payments totaling $3.9 million were being made in the names of deceased persons; in some instances these payments were being made for over 10 years. These payments were in respect of 34 former pensioners.

“Information from the Registration Department confirmed that these former pensioners were deceased. The controls for the payment of pensions need to be reviewed and a stop order should be placed on any additional payments. Efforts should be made to recover the outstanding amounts,” the Auditor General noted.

In Government’s response, written by Director Finance and Economic Affairs Ian Carrington and laid in Parliament late Thursday, it was disclosed that while some of the money was recovered, the BPS had been called in, in instances where persons were reluctant to repay.

“As at August 11, 2022, the sum of $651,778.97 has been collected from 20 accounts. The Treasury has contacted the Barbados Police Service to further assist in retrieving outstanding funds from account holders who have so far shown no inclination to voluntarily repay,” it stated.

Additionally, Government said certain procedures had been put in place to prevent a recurrence, including updating the pensioners’ register.

“The accounts of those former pensioners have been inactivated in the system in order to stop any further payments to them. Stop payment orders have also been issued to the commercial banks for payments that were in transit in relation to the former pensioners.

“Efforts are being made to recover the amounts deposited to the relevant accounts subsequent to the death of those former pensioners.

“Death Register information is very useful in the process of cleaning up the Treasury Department’s Pension Payroll Register. Over the years, the Treasury Department was unable to access the Death Register information. After discovering that the information from the Death Register was recently made available to the Auditor General’s Office, the Registration Department was requested to provide the Treasury Department with access to information from the Death Register,” the Government stated.