Acting Chief of Police Lincoln Corbette said police authorities are investigating cases of money laundering, work permit fraud, and theft at the Treasury at the money. He made it clear that the cases are not connected but are different and in no way related.
Corbette revealed that the police recovered a USD equivalent of EC$1,322,667 in cash from an apartment in Comfort Cottages in Terre Platte, Paix Bouche. He stated that a search warrant was executed at the residence by the police and Custom officers before the cache of cash was recovered and two people arrested in connection to the case.
Corbette said two men, Aronnie Armstead Stedman and Kendel Sylvester, were arrested on suspicion of money laundering in the case. In accordance with suitable laws, the acting police chief said the money was deposited into the National Bank of Dominica’s detained fund account after police officials applied to the magistrate court for forfeiture of the cash.
He stated that both Stedman and Sylvester were later released while the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) continues their investigation into a possible case of money laundering. He added that both men could be arrested again and charged to the court if found culpable of wrongdoing.
In a related event, Corbette said three officials from the Labour Division, IRD, and health ministry respectively are being investigated for their possible roles in work permit fraud. He noted that the officials allegedly engaged in the fraudulent issuance of work permits without following due process in failures that could have been occasioned by graft. He said the police became suspicious of a racket after two Haitians came into the country through the airport last week.
“Here it is you have people coming into the island with fraudulent documents and you have people in positions of authority in the Labour Division who exploit the system, knowing the loopholes in the system, for their own personal gain,” Corbette said. “All we have done so far is that we were able to determine that certain work permits that were issued, were done so fraudulently and the processes which should have been followed were never followed.”
Meanwhile, police authorities are also investigating a suspected case of massive theft at the Treasury Deparment and a female employee is being quizzed in connected with the incident. Corbette said the Accountant General will be in a better position to disclose the amount of money that was allegedly pilfered from the Treasury, but that the police has not seized any cash so far in the incident.
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