The Local Government Commission (LGC) has acted on the findings of a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into City Hall to terminate the services of Town Clerk Royston King.
News Room understands that King refused to respond to the numerous allegations levelled against him by the COI despite the LGC asking him to do so.
King could not be immediately contacted by News Room for comment and calls to his phone went unanswered.
King was officially terminated on Wednesday after serving more than 25 years at the Council.
He was first employed as an Environmental Health Officer with the Council’s Public Health Department. King subsequently moved up to the post of Press Officer and PRO.
He was recommended by the full Council for the post of Town Clerk on March 28, 2011, following his application for the position and was subsequently appointed Town Clerk in 2015.
The 2018 CoI into City Hall recommended disciplinary action against King for “gross misconduct, abuse of office, recklessness, dishonesty, conspiracy and misappropriation of funds.”
The CoI found that the Town Clerk rented eight lands belonging to the council to friends, families and close associates of senior members of the Council for far below par value and in some cases for no payment –actions the COI Chairman, Justice (rt’d) Cecil Kennard deemed “appalling to note that given the financial state of the Council.”
It further stated that the persons who appeared to be friends of the Town Clerk are also contractors of the Council.
Additionally, the CoI report noted that there was information about King’s involvement in the fake purchasing of properties which were unoccupied and owe rates and taxes.
This, it said, ought to be further investigated, and if it is found to be true, the relevant steps should be followed by the Council.
According to the report, it is not the first time the Town Clerk’s credibility is being questioned as documents show that he was written to about the quality of his work by former Town Clerks Beaulah Williams, and Yonette Pluck.
During the public hearings of the CoI, it was found that the Town Clerk leased a plot of land at Lombard Street, Georgetown to Quick Shipping Inc. even though the land belongs to the government’s privatisation unit – National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL).
