Gasboy II coming soon
(CNS): Officials from the government’s Department of Vehicle and Equipment Services (DVES) say they are putting together a request for proposals in preparation for a tender in order to replace the current fuel card system for public sector vehicles. Following revelations in two reports over the past year by the auditor general that the Gasboy card system was still open to abuse and poorly managed, the deputy governor has taken the lead on addressing the problems with department heads, while the DVES is in the process of introducing a modern version of the card system.
Answering questions at a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in the Legislative Assembly this weekregarding the findings of the Office of the Auditor General in its follow up on the Internal Audit Unit’s report, a team from the DVES assured the PAC members that things were being better managed but said the blame really lay with the heads of department.
The officials explained that the current system was antiquated and could supply limited information to public sector managers. However, they said there was no way for staff at DVES to know if a civil servant who filled up a vehicle was authorized to do so, or if they were using the fuel for the correct purpose or even if they still worked for the civil service. They explained that cards were cancelled as soon as the DVES was notified that a staff member had left but that could only happen based on information coming from the relevant managers.
During his review of the report by the Internal Audit Unit, Alastair Swarbrick found that, even though his predecessor had alerted government to the problem in a February 2010 audit, only the specific agencies singled out in the first report had done anything about it.
In the original report Dan Duguay, the previous auditor general, found that some $500,000 could have been fraudulently obtained from government's fuel station in North Sound since almost a third of the transactions reviewed were suspicious. He focused on the top five users of fuel, including public works, the NRA and the police, and drew attention to the failure of the system.
As a result, the Internal Audit Unit did a follow-up, which was recently reviewed by the current auditor general, and the examination of the next ten major fuel-using public authorities were found to have made little effort to address the issue, even though some were in the same ministry as those in the first five.
However, Deputy Governor Franz Manderson subsequently issued an order to all the COs giving them three months to address the issues and gave them new policies on managing fuel use by staff.
The numerous anomalies identified by the OAG included staff members having multiple cards, cards issued to people who had left the service and vehicles supposedly being filled up several times in one day. However, Manderson assured PAC that the issue was being tackled and the agencies identified as problematic were now compliant.
“My office takes the work of the auditor general seriously and I will ensure his reports and recommendations are properly addressed,” he said.
PAC chair Moses Kirkconnell stated that the goal of the committee was to ensure government took note of the waste identified by the auditor general and addressed the problem in order to implement much needed government savings.
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Category: Politics
So NO arrest. No convictionss. No one even fired.. Half a milion dollars a year stolen from the public and its all business as usual. OOppps you caught us. We will try harder not to get caught next time. In case no one told you that money comes out of the pockets of people who work for a living. The ones who follow the laws. The ones who pay the duty, fees, and taxes that pay for all the government to continue to function. This was a theft from all of them. And it was not a small thing. Now here is the questtion: After all this wasted money from the gas card abuse, the millions wasted on personal parking lot paveing on the Brack, the XXXX government officials using their own business to cover the paving of Grand Cayman when all the equipment was sent to the Brac, The lost of public money in court cases for incredibly stupid reasons. Why should the public now pay more to keep it going?
Why should we the paying public follow the laws that pay the government when the government will not follow the laws that would insure value for THE PUBLICS money? WHY??? Common sense tells me the public is being played as fools. We are not paying we are giving. We should stop.
Take their cards away, and make them sign for any fuel they pump – the cost of employing someone to monitor each person who uses this facility would be petty cash compared to what government is losing tot unauthorized access to this fuel supply.
It’s not the cards fault! Replacing them is about as logical as replacing a credit card and hoping you’ll spend less on the new one. Just cancel all existing Gasboy cards and reissue them to people who actually need them. New cards will take years, cost millions and be abused in the exact same way.
The thing is, there are many types of stealing. The general rule is the larger the amount the smaller the relative punishment. An example of first degree theft would be the indigent who steals $22 from the charity box. This warrants a front-page story and a public outcry followed by a public execution.
A second degree theft might be when a white-collar worker relieves a bank or government department of a few thousand dollars. A good lawyer, a few sobs in the dock, a promise to repay and it all ends with a suspended sentence, the tragic story buried out of sight, somewhere in the deep shadows of Monday's newspaper.
Then we have the mighty power-based thefts, third-degree thefts, where millions of dollars shift between accounts. The public pays for these backhanders indirectly, but shrugs and says, "ah well, what do you expect from a politician?" Don't bother to slap him on the wrist because his skin is so thick, he won't notice, and if he did notice, his conscience wouldn't. Along with these crimes go banking ripoffs, where entire classes of investor are quietly relieved of their lifetime savings, while their financial murderers are condemned to cut Roederer Crystal from their regular diet, and slum it on Dom Perignon. The agonies they suffer!
Of course the greatest theft of all is when your country is invaded, and you are forced to salute your opressors. The rule is simple: if you're going to steal, think big, and make sure you have enough over to buy a really good lawyer or you have the clout to say, "so what are you gonna do about it ? (Punk!)
Isn't it strange that in the government world the words 'no spending' are applied selectively, but pay cuts are applied universally. Isn't it strange the the goverment allows top directors to create a position to hire their own children (this is absolutely true) and isn't it strange that top servants paid over 10K a month are 'given' a card so they dont have to buy gas for their personal vehicles and isn't it strange that those same people possess the sense of entitlement that will ruin this country and isn't it strange they have no moral fiber to see that what they are doing is wrong?
I agree, make the system work before you decide to spend money on another new system, because any system that is to be managed by the present management will be abused. I have presented the above evidence to the deputy governor in emails and of course received no reply.
I sure hope the deputy governor has addressed the highly paid civil servants that get free gas as a bonus for their PERSONAL vehicles. XXXXX
Let me second what Mr. Duguay had to say. I know from experience there is nothing wrong with the system. It can even tell you how many MPG the vehicles get. In these hard times there is no need to waste money on a new system and whoever does that should be the first one to be let go. All you need is some accountability and a new system will not give you that. The CIG is really hopeless.
What 'e said. Its not the Gas its the Boys.
$500,000 a year in theft and no prosecution. Not even an arrest. What does that tell you about Caymanian culture? There is a reason Cayman culture is going the way of the Cayman parrot. It no longer has a place in this world.
Wonder if this will mean less boats out at Pickle and 60 Mile banks?
Or less trips to Jam to pick up. The goverrnement employees who leave, retire or are fired should turn in their cards the day before they leave the job. Their names should be remove from the active system, that way they would not be able to get gas. Just another short-coming.
If the managers are to blame FIRE their @sses!
Why is it so hard to hold someone accountable for their job responsibilities?!!
a couple of prosecutions and firings would also get the message across…..
Ya. How bout some prosecutions! ???
Well…it's a about time
I am sitting here shaking my head this morning regarding the ongoing farce named Gasboy. The solution proposed by DVES is to get a new system. Sigh! I am not saying that there isn’t a better system out there but that isn’t the problem here. The current system wasn’t deficient. The problem was that people didn’t properly use the CURRENT system.
If the current system was so bad, how could the Internal Audit Department and the Auditor General use it to identify what they call ” suspicious transactions” ( and we all know what that means!). The simple truth is that the present system is more thanadequate to control gas purchases IF Departments and Agencies wanted to use it as intended. The simple truth is that they either want to continue to give free gas to people who don’t deserve it or they are either unwilling or unable to do the job they are paid to do.
A new system won’t change that. I do agree with DVES that it is impossible for them to determine who are legitimate users or not. That is the job of the Department and Agencies that issue the cards and still refuse to cancel persons who have left the civil service etc.
Until we hold the people responsible who have been given the task of controlling fuel purchases, nothing will change. These are the people PAC should have called in. Not DVES with a dog and pony show about changing systems that will have no effect if the underlying sense of entitlement is not addressed.
Dan Duguay
Ride 'em cowboy…thank you for speaking the truth as usual Mr. Duguay.
"Until we hold the peole responsible etc, etc," Is it me or is not having to take responsibility for your actions one of the many "intitlments" of being Caymanian?
The "sense of entitlement" starts at the top and trickles down.
Solution? Perhaps a news generation of young Caymanians who have been educated and trained off-island might come back with a fresh sense of what "doing the right thing" means.
I do admit to having received some education and training off-island, but I pretty much knew right from wrong before I had finished kindergarden here in Cayman.
Then please step up and run for office or get a job managing the civil service.
The LA and the civil service both deserately need strong people who know right from wrong.
Do you seriously think any strong minded and qualified person will get a job managing the civil service? The Minster of All Tings rules, OK. At least until May.
Thanks Mr. Dugy, they can't fire you again… so please continue to keep us informed just to put our parasites on notice.
I totally agree. If the department heads wanted the system to be used honestly then they would do their job and stop the theft of fuel. Who are these department heads anyway? These people should at the very least be NAMED AND SHAMED!
If the camera was used in the right way, it could tell a tale. It did it before, why not now. Those who are issued cards should have the cards in their possession and not leave them in the glove compartments to be used by other people, who are not authorised to sign on that card.
The answer is simple
Stick two digital cameras in the gas station an link the pump meters to them, then put the monitors and recording devices in the auditor general’s office and fire the individuals who can not account for every gallon.(tracking devices would soon show up the perpetrators)
Paint all Govt. vehicles the same color and put big signs on them, the use of these vehicles for personal use is rife, we have all seen fire service vehicles, police cars and NRA trucks used to collect kids from school, parked in Kirks car park, used to transport boats at weekends….the list goes on and on….how stupid do they think we are?
The island is covered by cameras and yet they can’t catch anyone, which begs the question…who is monitoring them?
There is no point asking these perpetrators to monitor themselves…..that’s just plain crazy….oh and whilst you are at it, stop them washing their personal vehicles during the day in Govt. compounds…why should we pay your salaries so that you can negate your jobs and beautify your precious, well fuelled vehicles on Govt. time?
I can not believe that the managers of these departments do not know this……time to sack a few and make an example of them, this is ater all a criminal act ……the gravy train has to be stopped, there appears to be absolutely no accountability in any Govt. departments and it all starts at the top!