A pastor appointed to battle gang violence was signed up for $33,000 a year more than it was claimed he would be paid when his contract was extended, official documents have revealed.

Leroy Bean was given the post of gang violence reduction co-ordinator in October 2017 and Wayne Caines, the Minister of National Security, said the 12-month contract would pay about $92,000. The agreement was later extended for a further two years and Mr Caines said last November the “compensation was not changed”.

A list published on the Government’s Official Gazette, however, showed Mr Bean’s deal was valued at $334,654 over three years — an average of about $111,551 a year or $121,327 a year for the last two years of the deal, if his first annual salary was $92,000.

However, the Government admitted last night that Mr Bean would get $125,000 a year for the two extra years added to the original contract.

A spokesman confirmed Mr Bean was paid $92,000 for the initial one-year deal. The spokesman added: “At its conclusion and based on his education, experience and on par with similar roles in the Civil Service, in September 2018 Pastor Bean’s contract was renegotiated and renewed for two years at $125,000, the equivalent of PS 38.”

The spokesman said the pay scale was in line with that for a case manager at the Department of Court Services, an education manager at Westgate prison and a co-ordinator at the Department of Child and Family Services.

The Government was asked last night to explain the discrepancy and Mr Caines’s claim last November that Mr Bean’s paycheque would not go up, but did not respond by press time.

The details of the $334,654 contract were included in a table of national security ministry contracts worth at least $50,000 uploaded under public access to information requirements.

Mr Bean was described as a “gang consultant” with a contract from September 1, 2017 to August 31, 2020.

Mr Caines said, when he first announced the appointment, that Mr Bean brought 20 years’ experience of work with gangs, and had served as a residential care officer at the former Department of Social Services.

Mr Bean said at the time: “With the help of Bermuda, we can conquer this problem. And when I say Bermuda, I believe that each one of us plays a part in everything that will be done. It’s not one organisation or one party.”

Mr Caines confirmed in November: “Pastor Bean is an integral component in our efforts to stem the tide of antisocial behaviour in Bermuda.

“As such, I offered to extend his contract for a further two years, which he accepted. Pastor Bean’s compensation was not changed and is available [to be viewed] in the public domain.”

The Royal Gazette asked the Government last week about the difference between the contract value in the online list and the salary details provided earlier.

A spokesman said on Sunday that the national security ministry was busy on budget-related work, but a “full response” would be provided in the House of Assembly today.

The list of contracts included another gang consultant, Darren Woods, hired from April 16 last year to March 31, 2020 for a total of $166,458 — about $83,230 a year.

Further details of his role were also requested from the Government.

Mr Caines said in the House of Assembly last April that Mr Woods had been seconded to the department from another ministry to act as a case manager.

He was described yesterday in a press release as the ministry’s youth outreach prevention manager. Mr Caines told MPs last November that the two-man gang violence reduction team worked every day to tackle the island’s gang culture. He said the pair had met at-risk pupils in both public senior schools, as well as police, and co-ordinated mediation between schoolchildren involved with rival gangs.

He said then that Mr Bean’s work was “highly confidential and sensitive” and that it was inappropriate to reveal details.

Figures provided by the Government in January showed three firearms-related deaths or injuries last year, down from nine in 2017 and 14 in 2016.

The data also revealed there were 27 incidents in 2018 that involved a firearm, were believed to involve a firearm, or where a firearm was recovered, compared with 49 in 2017 and 82 the year before that.

Two fintech consultants were also on the list of national security ministry contracts.

Loretta Joseph was hired for $60,000 between February 1 and April 30 last year.

A $70,000 contract lasting a little more than three months was awarded to Lydia Dickens or CB Limited, a Bermudian business of which she was understood to be managing director.

Samantha Knight, described on her LinkedIn profile as an “operations consultant and attaché to the Minister of National Security”, was listed in the table as a consultant on a $105,807 contract from January last year to the end of this month.

The document also showed Pallans Associates was hired for $58,900 as a radio communication system consultant between May 30, 2017 and the end of 2018. Mr Bean did not respond to requests for comment.