By Kimone Witter
The home of interdicted acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Dr. Grace McLean, was among several premises raided Friday morning by the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption agency (MOCA).
Major Basil Jarrett, Director of Communications for MOCA, told Radio Jamaica News that the Agency and the Financial Investigation Division (FID) conducted search and seizure operations at nine locations, in connection with an ongoing investigation into operations at the Ministry of Education and the Joint Committee for Tertiary Education.
Major Jarrett said the operations took place at five locations in the Corporate Area, three in St. James and one in Westmoreland.
He said the premises of Dr. McLean and a number of other persons of interest in the investigations were searched.
Major Jarrett said the officers seized several devices and documents which will be taken in for processing by cyber and forensic experts.
The operations are ongoing.
No one has been arrested so far.
MOCA and the FID began their probe into the case involving Dr. McLean and the Joint Committee for Tertiary Education in December 2021 on the advice of Education Minister Fayval Williams.
The probe came after an Auditor-General's report, tabled on October 12, 2021, called for the police or an anti-corruption agency to conduct a probe following the transfer of $124 million by the Ministry of Education to the Joint Committee for Tertiary Education under questionable circumstances.
The Auditor-General said the Ministry had not been able to account for the use of the money which was transferred over a 32-month period.
