CO129-475 - Governor Sir Stubbs & Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1922 [5-7] — Page 165

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Superintendent of Police or his Deputies did not themselves see that the bills presented to them for certification corresponded with the goods received into store but I am satisfied that no great blame can be attached to them. It was part of the duties of Fatteh Mohamed to check the bills presented with the articles received and signed for by the Store Sergeant and Mr. Wolfe had issued explicit instruct- ions to the Accountant to exercise a further check by comparing the bills with the orders given before placing the vouchers before him for signature. This was not, however, done by Mr. Leete. Many of the bills, moreover, which do purport to be certified by the Accountant and

Storekeeper have since been found to be forgeries, the signatures or initials attached being cleverly imitated.

7. It is clear therefore that on going through the items on the various vouchers before signing them, the Captain Superintendent of Police was not unnaturally satisfied that the bills were in order. The goods to be

paid for corresponded in most cases closely with goods

which he knew were on order or had actually been received

and they had been initialled as checked by Fatteh Mohamed

whose duty it was to prepare the covering vouchers to be

forwarded to the Treasury for payment and whose integrity

Mr. Wolfe had no reason to doubt. Mr. Leete, the Accountant

apparently found the work more than he could accomplish and

relied on Fatteh Mohamed who was the ablest clerk in the

Accounts Office to an extent which was quite unjustifiable

and which furnished the opportunities for these extensive

defalcations. With the reappointment of Mr. A. J. C. Taylor

I feel sure an efficient check will be maintained over the

Accounts Office of the Police Department and that similar

defalcations will not be possible in future. Mr. Leete was on the temporary staff and his services have been dispensed

with.

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