The Recent West Amwell CFO Controversy
Updated: Sep 8
By Mike Spille
As mentioned in our writeup of the September 2nd, 2026 West Amwell Township Committee Meeting, a bombshell was dropped by Committeeman Robert Baalam in the third hour of the meeting: not only had our newly installed CFO Peter Suh let a stranger into our municipal building earlier this year and had him "help" Mr. Suh with some accounting setups, Mr. Suh also gave the stranger millions of dollars of endorsed checks to be deposited at Unity Bank, a new account setup for the Township for reasons that are unclear.
That stranger was one Cameron T. Keng. And as fate would have it, according to NewJerseyHills and other news outlets, Mr. Keng was arrested on Tuesday, August 4th, 2026 by detectives from the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office for theft by deception.
The scheme Mr. Keng was accused of was double-billing his client, Franklin Township. The alleged fraud was uncovered by an internal investigation launched by Unity Bank after it identified suspicious transactions initiated by Mr. Keng.
And unlike in other municipalities where Keng "helped out" Mr. Suh, no such authorization was made in West Amwell. Mr. Keng had no busines being anywhere near our finances.
Specifically, Mr. Suh handing Mr. Keng West Amwell Township checks violates West Amwell Township financial procedures and controls.
In the wake of these accusations, Committeeman Balaam called for the immediate termination of Mr. Suh. Mayor Robin Deal indicated she would initiate an immediate financial audit to determine if our Township finances are still sound.
3 Years of Connections
The connections between our CFO, Mr. Suh, and accused fraudster Mr. Keng go back several years. The two appear to have a history of working together in multiple New Jersey municipal finance offices.
In the Spring of 2023, according to Demerest Borough Mayor Brian Bernstein, Cameron Keng was brought on as their new interim CFO. His finance assistant coming along for the ride? One Peter Suh.
Mr. Keng would ultimately be replaced with Peter Suh as the CFO of Demerest.
In addition, at the time the Demarest Mayor noted that Keng would continue to remain available to Suh and the finance department specifically to assist with a conversion to a newly upgraded finance software system.
This may sound eerily familiar to West Amwell residents in the know. Mr. Suh brought new finance software systems into West Amwell, and guess what? He contacted Mr. Keng to "help" him administer them in setting up new accounts.
CFO Suh Already had a Rocky Start at West Amwell.
Before these allegations came to light, CFO Suh was already under a cloud of suspicon and doubt in West Amwell. He was part of a total upending of the Township's finance department, and has been bringing in more "assistants" to help him out. Earlier this year CFO Suh defended a bond ordinance that included a clause allowing an unconsciounable up to 20% of the total bond values to be wasted on administrative costs to the tune of over $120,000. This measure was defeated when it came to light the CFO had not even selected the proper ordinance for presentation that evening. Before the ordinance was defeated, Mr. Suh attempted to vigorously defend the 20% administrative fees as usual and customary - an absurd notion that was roundly laughed at at the time.
Worse, the same exact problematic language carried forward to another Bond resolution in August 2026 - a 20% potential blank check that could be wielded to drain tax payer funds to the tune of, again, over $120,000. This time the measure passed, with pressure from the Township Attorney Perez indicating that a clock was ticking and the Township was paying regular fines.
Impacts on Other NJ Municipalities
The impacts of these allegations on NJ municipalities are real and ongoing. Under Mr. Keng and Suh, HIgh Bridge has experienced significant budget disruptions and operational pauses. High Bridge has had to delay their 2026 municipal budget while various agencies are investigating.
West Amwell was late with its budget this year as well.
In Demarest—where Keng previously served as interim CFO before passing the full-time role to Suh—officials are reviewing their historical transition protocols. Because Keng was retained post-resignation specifically to guide Suh through a finance software migration, auditors are cross-checking past ledger alterations to ensure no payroll fee double-billing occurred prior to Keng's exit from the borough
And of course in Franklin Township, where Keng has specifically been charged with double-billing, elected officials have been forced to undertake systematic payrolls audits and financial foresnic analysis of their books.
Wholesale Change Isn't Always Good
Critics of the Township's new majority in 2026 have noted that a number of long-term non-partisan Township employees and professionals have either quit or been ousted, and the replacements appear to have been chosen more for their political connections than expertise in their fields.
We now have ongoing controversieis in our Department of Public Works, Finance Department, and our Legal repesentation. Mayor Robin Deal has called these disruptions and turnover a "normal course of a change of guard", but there is nothing normal about a tiny municipality like West Amwell being embroiled in this number of scandals simultaneously in such a short period of time.
We call on the Township Committee to systematically review the dizzying array of personnel changes enacted this year, and to take action where appropriate.
Based on the seriousness of the charges, we also support the immediate termination of CFO Suh, and that we undertake the unfortunate but necessary pain of a financial audit to ensure our tax payer money is safe and accounted for.
I’d like to correct some inaccuracies in your article about Peter Suh and Cameron Keng. Keng was never the CFO in High Bridge, although he was the “Payroll Manager” for a while. Second, every bond ordinance has a provision for what are called “Section 20” or “soft costs” for things like design, engineering, survey, etc. These costs are reasonable and normal for any capital project, and they are accounted for separately from construction costs. Your characterization of this provision within West Amwell’s proposed bond ordinance is simply wrong and misguided.