THE ISSUE of public sector contracts resurfaced in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament yesterday with a letter from Deputy Solicitor-General Douglas Leys in which he challenged a decision of the Finance Ministry.
It also emerged at the PAC that the Ministry will seek the advice of the Solicitor-General on the contracts of individual public sector bosses to determine whether they violated government guidelines.
In a letter to PAC chairman Audley Shaw last month, Patsy Richardson, deputy financial secretary in the Ministry, pointed out advice had been sought from the Attorney-General's Department on the legality of the contract of the Governor of the Bank of Jamaica (GoJ). This advice, she said, was used to determine the legality of other public sector contracts.
"In situations like this it is customary to select a case for legal advice and such advice when given would be used to determine the other cases," Mrs. Richardson said in her letter.
However, in his letter which was released yesterday, Mr. Leys noted it would be impossible for one contract to be used to judge the legality of all the contracts of the top public sector bosses. He said if his office had received any request for advice on that basis it would have been pointed out this could not be done in a general way.
"The fact of the matter is that each contract turns on the peculiarities of the particular clauses embodied therein and the constituent documents," the letter said.
The Deputy Solicitor-General's view is supported by Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Carlton Davis. In a memorandum to Mrs. Richardson on October 12, which was attached to Mr. Leys' letter, Dr. Davis noted advice should be sought on each contract to determine its legality.
At yesterday's sitting of the committee, Robert Martin, another of the Ministry's deputy financial secretaries, said the Ministry would complete its report on the progress of the public sector issue between January 16 and February 27. The report, he said, would contain a legal opinion on all the public sector contracts which have been suspected to have breached government guidelines.
Mr. Leys' letter is a response to a request from the PAC two weeks ago, in which they asked for clarification on a statement he made, denying claims his office had received a request from the Ministry for advice on the legality of the public sector contracts.
Mr. Leys, in the letter, stood by his statement that he did not receive a request from the Ministry. However, Mrs. Richards disclosed three weeks ago that it was not from the Ministry that a request for advice was sought but from the Cabinet Secretary.
