FIVE members of the accounts staff at Port Authority have been fired for financial impropriety. This follows a recent internal investigation. Already reeling from persistent inflation, consumers are also worried that increased costs would lead to sharp retail price increases just before the busy Christmas season. TnT Mirror was told that five senior accounting staff members were sent packing recently when an investigation into irregularities pointed to them as the perpetrators. The former staffers may also be made to face criminal charges as the investigation continues and is expected to reveal more wrongdoing on the part of the five. However, the information remains unconfirmed, as Port Authority Public Relations staff told Mirror that they are not in a position to give any information or comment on the matter and up to 5 p.m. last Tuesday, the Authority's Managing Director Christopher Mendez was said to be too busy with meetings to shed light on the matter. Another female Port Authority employee who answered the Managing Director's telephone extension offered a terse: "I can't tell you anything about that," and quickly hung up before any further questions could be asked. There was also no way for Mirror to confirm information that when investigators found evidence of misappropriation of funds, Mendez was recalled from leave to attend to an emergency board meeting. But this newspaper understands that it was at the emergency board meeting that the decision was made to fire the five errant accounting staff members and many of the authority's other staff members have breathed a sigh of relief at the firings. Apparently, one of those fired, a senior member of the accounting staff, clandestinely kept a lid on the wrongdoings by pretending to be meticulous with the organisation's finances. In the process, she unleashed a reign of terror on junior staff members, who, Mirror understands, danced for joy at her departure.