By Trudy Simpson, Staff ReporterTHE MINISTRY of Labour and Social Security is promising to take strong action against one of its employees who reportedly fleeced almost 100 people by promising them non-existent jobs at the Ministry and at the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities.
Faith Innerarity, Senior Director, Social Security, said yesterday that the ministry was investigating the incident but could not question the man, since he has been admitted to hospital since last being seen at work on Monday.
She quickly point out that although the Ministry had assigned the man to the Council, he was not acting on its behalf.
"This was obviously a scam. We are not taking this lightly. The ministry is investigating the matter because this is totally unacceptable. The Ministry has nothing to do with it. It's nothing that the Ministry knew about or condoned in any way," Mrs Innerarity said. "It came as a surprise to us when these people turned up."
She implied that the man's actions may cost him his job.
"In a case like this, we could not keep someone on who has done something like this. This is something that breached not only the ethical principles of the Ministry but also the laws of the country. He has obviously done something wrong which we would not condone," she said.
PROCEDURES
Mrs Innerarity added, "There are specific procedures which must be carried out freely. We have to speak with him. We have to speak to the people. We have to document what has happened and then we have to recommend the appropriate action," she said.
On Monday, almost 100 persons turned up at the Council's and Social Security ministry's offices, for interviews for the jobs had been promised. Several persons claimed that the man took $100 from them "for paper work" in exchange for promised jobs but reports reaching the Gleaner said some persons had paid as much as $5,000.
Head of the Council for persons with Disabilities, Ransford Wright, said yesterday that he will be submitting a report on the incident to the Ministry. He added that he and the man's colleagues at the Council were also puzzled about his action.
"It has puzzled all of us as to why he did it, knowing that he didn't have any jobs," Mr. Wright said, adding that he has not seen the man since last week. The man, a visually-repaired relief telephone operator, had come in to sign his name on Monday and later left, just ahead of the crowd.
According to reports, the majority of the persons who turned up had not paid any money. Others said that only $1,800 was taken from persons. There were also conflicting reports on what happened to the money he allegedly collected, with some reports stating that the money was returned while others insisted that the money was used to buy telephone cards.
Mrs Innerarity said that the Ministry does not have any details on whether the gentleman took money, how much he took or what happened to the funds.
