Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has re­it­er­at­ed her Gov­ern­ment’s com­mit­ment to tack­ling cor­rup­tion in the Un­em­ploy­ment Re­lief Pro­gramme (URP), fol­low­ing the re­cent ter­mi­na­tion of 400 work­ers.

Speak­ing with re­porters out­side Par­lia­ment yes­ter­day, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said the move was part of a broad­er ef­fort to clean up state-fund­ed em­ploy­ment schemes and en­sure tax­pay­ers’ mon­ey is be­ing used re­spon­si­bly.

“We can­not con­tin­ue this. What is even more im­por­tant is that in­tel­li­gence com­ing from the TTPS and oth­er pro­tec­tive ser­vices is not just about the cor­rup­tion and ghost gangs, it is the in­fil­tra­tion by crim­i­nal el­e­ments, and as you know, I am to­tal­ly against any crim­i­nal­i­ty at any stage. Maybe you’ll say we can’t stop it from the days of Adam and Eve but we have to do all we can to root out crim­i­nal­i­ty.”