SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine - The St Catherine Parish Council says it has found no evidence of misappropriation of funds in the Lauriston Division, as alleged by former mayor Dr Raymoth Notice at a meeting in March.

The council said, too, that it found no connection between money allocated to the division and the purchase of a piece of land by the citizens' association.

"I am satisfied that there is no evidence of any connection between the money allocated to the division, the work for which money was spent and the purchasing of land identified by councillor (Raymoth) Notice," secretary manager Franklin Smith told the council's monthly general meeting last Thursday.

Last month, Notice accused the council of brazen corruption and called on the prime minister to immediately dissolve it.
Dr Raymoth Notice had charged then that a councillor, whom he refused to name, had used a $1-million allocation to buy a piece of land and had registered the property in the name of the citizens' association in the community without the council's approval.

Notice, who claimed that he had a copy of the land title, further alleged that the money was allocated to fix a particular road over an 18-month period, but said there were no records that the repair work was done.
The allegation prompted an order from the local government minister, Dean Peart, for the secretary manager to carry out an immediate investigation into the matter.
On Thursday, Smith said the investigation found that $2 million was allocated to Lauriston during the period and that the expenditure was legal.

"We found that there was over $2 million allocated to the Lauriston division over the 18- month period which councillor Notice asked the ministry and the parish council to look at," he said.
"We found that the level of allocation was in the region of $2.2 million (and) the level of expenditure was just around $71,000 over the same period," Smith disclosed at the meeting.

The investigators, he said, had reviewed the contracts for road-patching and drain-cleaning in the division over the period and saw no link between the names of the contractors and members of the citizens association who were involved in the purchasing of two lots Notice had identified.

"It is not impossible that a connection could be made, but there is no evidence that there is any connection between the monies granted by the council to the division, which was expended on legitimate work which was signed off for by the superintendent (of road and works) so, Mr chairman, we have found no indication whatsoever that money was illegally spent as the work identified was signed off by the technical people in the council," Smith reported.

Notice, while expressing satisfaction at the investigations, maintained that the parish council needed reformation.
"I am satisfied that the investigations have been done, but should I be returned as chairman and mayor of the St Catherine Parish Council, it will not be business as usual," said Notice who resigned as mayor two years ago following a domestic dispute which ended in court.

"I would ensure that the community has access to all expenditure and ensure that every dollar spent and every programmes executed by councillors in their divisions their constituents would have knowledge of it," he added.

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