Despite the overwhelming number of cases reaching the Fraud Squad, the unit is reporting a fairly high success rate in at clearing the large volume of cases.

Head of the Fraud Squad, Superintendent Fitz Bailey, tells The Sunday Gleaner that his team has a clearance rate of 70 per cent. "We have been consistent with that," he boasts.

However, Auditor General Adrian Strachan says Parlia-ment is not too pleased with the pace at which the public sector cases are cleared up.

"Things tend to move very slowly when reported to the police. The PAC (Public Accounts Committee) has to grapple with this on a yearly basis."

"Neither myself, the PAC or the police themselves have been happy with the rate of clearance," he said.

summoned to Gordon house

Strachan also points out that the state of arrears has forced the PAC to summon the police to Gordon House on more than one occasion.

He explains that the snail pace is due to a number of reasons, and is not as a result of the police's incompetence.

"Reports made to the police are not as fulsome as they should be, so they (police) are forced to do a lot of ground work."

He adds: "People are reluctant to provide evidence against a former co-worker either because of a misguided sense of loyalty, or out of fear - because the fear factor does sometimes play a part. The police are sometimes overwhelmed with the number of these cases that they have to deal with."

However, the 2006 Economic and Social Survey published by the Planning Institute of Jamaica gave the police an overall clearance rate of 94.3 per cent between 2004 and 2006.