Donna Cox says says bribes and illegal transactions with social grants plaguing the Ministry

Minister of Social Development and Family Services says the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services is haemorrhaging millions of dollars in an apparent scheme being operated by some employees who are said to be receiving huge kickbacks and bribes to fast-track social grants applications that have been stuck in the system for months.
Minister Cox made the statement days after the 2021 Auditor General’s Report exposed inconsistencies and irregularities that have resulted in state grants meant to assist the needy and vulnerable going into the wrong hands.
The report showed that people as young as 27 are collecting senior citizen pensions, food card beneficiaries obtaining double payments, pertinent information for the processing of grants missing from the ministry’s database, and a payout of $886,350 to 61 beneficiaries whose national IDs did not correspond with their date of birth and four centenarians between the ages 114 to 135 appearing on the system.
Minister Cox said before the report was made public, her Ministry had requested an audit after problems were encountered with the processing of grants. It is now the subject of an investigation by the T&T Police Service and an Investigation and Compliance Unit (ICU) was recently established to “ensure there is no attempt internally and externally to defraud the ministry in the grant payments.”