Integrity Commission swoops down on Hanover Municipal Corporation

Western Bureau:

The embattled Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) is now under a major probe by the Integrity Commission, which swooped down on the corporation’s Lucea headquarters on Thursday and seized documents and confiscated the cellular phones of some employees.

Efforts to get comment from the Integrity Commission or the leadership of the corporation proved futile. However, one senior official at the HMC, who asked not to be identified, told The Gleaner that he was present when the team from the anti-corruption oversight body showed up and started quizzing employees. They reportedly took with them documents and cellular phones.

“They came in a bus and promptly entered the building and started quizzing staff members and requesting documents, which were handed over to them,” the source said.

The HMC was thrown into the national spotlight recently following the release of two controversial videos in which the narrator’s voice was electronically muffled. The narrator accused a senior official of nepotism and corruption.

‘Smear campaign’

Lucea Mayor Sheridan Samuels, at a press conference on October 2, rubbished the claims, saying he was innocent of any wrongdoing and was the victim of a smear campaign by persons within the People’s National Party (PNP), who are seeking to hurt his chances of being returned as the councillor for the Cauldwell division in the upcoming local government election. Samuels is a member of the PNP.

Following the Integrity Commission’s operation, The Gleaner sought comment from David Gardener, the chief executive officer; Samuels, and Romeo Daley, director of finance, but was told that they were unavailable.

However, a well-placed source at the HMC, who asked not to be named, said that the visit by the Integrity Commission should not trigger an alarm as there was nothing to hide at the corporation and the mayor had publicly called for action to clear his name of the damning allegations.

“It is nothing to be alarmed about, we were expecting it and when they (the Integrity Commission officials) came, all the documents were packaged and waiting on them,” the source said. “As the mayor has stated in reports that were carried by your newspaper ( The Gleaner), we have nothing to hide at the HMC.”