The Ministry of Legal Affairs has been called upon to investigate complaints of alleged financial improprieties committed by acting Registrar of Deeds Ms. Azeena Baksh.

The Ministry in a statement on Tuesday said staff of the Deeds and Commercial Registries Authority made the request.

The Ministry has already referred the complaints to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) through Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum.

“Both the Human Resource and Accounting Departments have complained that as Head of the Budget Agency and sole person in authority to approve and sign off the payroll of the Deeds and Commercial Registries Authority and one of the main signatories on the Authority’s Bank Account, the Registrar unlawfully paid herself gratuity, well knowing, she was a pensionable employee having been appointed by the Judicial Services Commission (JSC),” the statement noted.

Registrar Baksh is accused of unlawfully paying herself a higher salary than was approved by the JSC.

The Deeds Registry officers have disclosed that these payments started since 2014 and continued up to the present and amount to nearly four and half million dollars ($4.5M).

Moreover, the Deeds Registry has also handed over several documents to the Legal Affairs Ministry alleging that Registrar unlawfully waived the sum of $7.4 million upon the request of an Attorney-at-Law, who paid only the sum of $1.5 million for services.

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