Further records of charges to government-issued credit cards, this time involving expenditures attributed to former officials in the Ministry of Education, were made public Tuesday but provided no clarity about what was purchased with the cards.
According to information retrieved through an open records request that was sent to the Cayman Compass, former Education Minister Alden McLaughlin’s government credit card charges between July 2005 and December 2007 totaled $40,384.27. His former chief officer Angela Martins’s card charges totaled $72,082.26 during the same period.
Additional charges recorded for Ms. Martins’s credit card in 2008 totaled $59,324.84, including more than $16,000 in charges from January 2008. Charges from January to June 2009 on Ms. Martins’s card totaled $19,858.04. A $16,894.09 bill was recorded in January 2009.
The records state only the total spent each month on the former minister and former chief officer’s credit cards. The specific items purchased were not stated.
“[The information provided] reflects the monthly activities for [the] minister and chief officer for the period 2005-2007 and is inclusive of all charges and bank fees,” a statement attached to the open records response indicated.
Contacted for comment Tuesday, Mr. McLaughlin said he had not seen the open records information and was unaware of any government-issued credit card records that had been released.
“I’m certainly not going to try and speculate about [credit card] charges from nine years ago,” he said.
A separate open records request, the results of which were sent to the Compass, noted three personal expenditures paid by Ms. Martins and former education ministry chief officer, Mary Rodrigues. Ms. Martins charged $13.50 for an unknown personal item. Mrs. Rodrigues was charged $105 for a purchase at Celebrations for which the wrong credit card was used and an additional $11.50 for another unidentified personal purchase. All the stated amounts were paid back.
The response to the Freedom of Information request, which was made by a private citizen, also indicated that government records did not account for all potential personal charges made on the credit cards.
“Former and current ministers/chief officers may have made reimbursements for their government credit cards by paying the charges directly to the bank,” the FOI response from the education ministry stated. “These transactions, however, are not processed through the accounting system and as such, would not be reflected in the accounting records.”
In addition, a litany of reasons why specific credit card charge information – including Royal Bank of Canada credit card statements – could not be released by the education ministry was sent to the open records requester. These included a claimed exemption of information in cases where “disclosure would prejudice the security of the islands” and another exemption where “disclosure…relates to law enforcement – the trial of any person or adjudication of any case.”
The records provided said nothing regarding monthly charges for Mrs. Rodrigues’s card and also contained no information about charges made to the card held by former education minister Rolston Anglin.
Mrs. Rodrigues deferred questions about the ministry credit card statements to acting ministry chief officer Christian Suckoo.
The records provided with regard to Mr. McLaughlin and Ms. Martins also contain mathematical errors for the year 2006 credit card charges.
The stated amount charged to the former minister’s credit card in the records for 2006 indicate he spent $19,326.11 for the year, but adding up each month’s amount for the year brings the total to $24,042.67.
Similarly with Ms. Martin’s credit card in 2006,the reported charge totals were $15,604, but adding up each month separately brings the amount to $22,507.01.
Mathematical errors did not occur in either the 2005 or 2007 credit card records for Mr. McLaughlin or Ms. Martins.
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I’m certainly not going to try and speculate about credit card charges from nine years ago, he (Mr. McLaughlin) said.
No need to speculate. The issuing bank has those records.
And if those charges are Ministry related and in the interest of the public, then there would be no issue having that information released.
Why not just simply clear the air?
Who can resist that type of arrangement where you spend the peoples money and you are not accountable Is the approval department closed?. This must be a Disneyland fairy tale.
Who approves these types of expenditures and what type of balance and checks are in place.
What was I thinking. I shouldn’t be using such advanced terminology where it applies to accounting, accountability and the government.
Please be sure to place your editorial in the comic section. It belongs as the cover page.