Douglas

The theft of documents from some parish councils last year has not affected the audit of the operations at the agencies, according to junior minister for local government, Harry Douglas.

Mr. Douglas told The Gleaner/Power 106 News earlier this week that the documents from the St. Catherine, St. Mary and Westmoreland parish councils were stolen in November after the ministry's Permanent Secretary was held up and robbed. However, the junior local minister said there were copies of the documents.

In addition, Mr. Douglas claimed that auditors at the St. Thomas Parish Council were also robbed of documents related to the examination of operations at that facility in December.

He said the impact of the theft was greatest at the St. Thomas Parish Council, as the auditors were at the final stages of completing their investigations and had to carry out the exercise a second time.

The ministry had ordered audits into the operations of the island's parish councils after irregularities were discovered at some of the agencies.

The ministry is now awaiting the reports from the auditors.

The Gleaner was unable, up to press time yesterday, to get confirmation of the theft of the documents from the police.

The documents from the St. Catherine, St. Mary and Westmoreland parish councils were stolen in November after the ministry's Permanent Secretary was held up and robbed. However, the junior government minister said there were copies of the documents.